Eastleigh Borough Council Licensing Committee Meeting

There was no public participation on this occasion.

There were no declarations of interest in relation to items of business on the agenda.

RESOLVED -

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 5 October 2022 be confirmed

and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

The Licensing Manager informed the Committee that the licensing training event held on the 30 May 2023 had been successful.

He reiterated that it was vitally important that councillors attended licensing training, and that there would be another session in the near future, and that councillors would be informed once details had been confirmed.

Councillor Tidridge requested whether any provision could be made to allow for councillors who could not attend day-time training sessions.

The Licensing Manager noted the request and explained that if was often difficult to balance needs, but that he and the Senior Charted Legal Executive (FCILEx) would look into whether any video training could be made available.

The Licensing Manager presented the Licensing Policy 2024/29 – Consultation.

Councillor Tidridge requested confirmation of how the conclusion was drawn that there was no impact on climate change or environmental implications associated with the report.

The Senior Chartered Legal Executive (FCILEx) stated that she would have a discussion with the Corporate Strategy Manager to confirm how the conclusion was reached and email Councillor Tidridge with the information.

RESOLVED –

That the Licensing Committee noted the draft Statement of Licensing Policy for 2024 to 2029 and agreed to commence consultation for a period of 12 weeks, with a view to full Council adopting a new Statement of Licensing Policy from January 2024.

The Licensing Manager gave the following verbal update:

·  Fair Oak Cricket Club – Application for a Club Premises Certificate had received three public objections on the grounds of increased public nuisance. The Certificate was granted as objections related to the behaviour of others and was not linked to the venue.

·  Andersons News – Grant of a premises licence.

·  Ageas Bowl – Artic Monkeys were performing there in June, attending SAG for this and doing table-top exercise prior to event. Annual inspection day would be in June as well, which will be on a day a match is being played. There were no current issues.

·  The Licensing Team had conducted joint visits with Environmental Health dealing with noise issues, namely Hamble Club, Concorde and Botley Brewery.

·  The Licensing Team had attended pub watch meetings.

·  Since last year, new online applications had been introduced, which had improved the process and provided a better offer for the public/applicants.

·  No significant issues had been noted.

The Licensing Manager explained how the Eastleigh Borough Council and Southampton City Council Partnership worked for the benefit of new councillors on the Committee.

The Licensing Manager provided a summary of licensing activity from 5 October 2022 to date.

The Licensing Manager stated that the partnership continued to function well with few issues and work was continuing on renewing the contracts, which had proved difficult as they had explored combining both contracts into one but had to revert to two separate contracts, one for the Licensing Act 2003 (LA03), Gambling Act 2005 (GA05) and boats, and another covering taxis. 

A total of 259 Eastleigh applications had been dealt with by the partnership, the vast majority being LA03.

Licensing Act 2003

Applications had been processed, as follows:

·  1 new Club Premises Certificate

·  24 Late Temporary Event Notices

·  108 Temporary Event Notices

·  4 minor variations

·  1 Notification of Interest

·  43 new personal licences

·  5 new premises licences

·  5 transfer of premises licences

·  3 variations of premises licences

Gambling Act 2005

Applications had been processed, as follows:

·  1 Alcohol licence permit variation (allows more than 2 gaming machines)

·  1 new alcohol licence premises notification (allows up to 2 gaming machines)

·  9 small society lotteries

Complaints

There were 4 complaints investigated in this time, 3 for the LA03 and 1 for the GA05, as follows:

·  Complaint of poor management and under 18 serving alcohol – premises visited with follow up visits and there was no evidence to support the complaint.

·  Complaint under 18 left alone working in licensed café. This was confirmed, but no alcohol was sold, and was due to unforeseen circumstances. The premises manager had only found out after the event. Advice was given.

·  Information was received a premises was selling wine without a licence. The premises was in the process of applying for licence, and they were advised to remove all stock from view until the licence was granted.

·  Complaint club not complying with regulations on number of gaming machines and poker. An investigation found the premises was fully compliant, and it appeared the complainant was confused with differences in how the Gambling Act 2005 works between a licensed premises and a club.

The Licensing Manager also mentioned that officers had been working with environmental health officers, dealing with noise issues related to licensed premises.