Winchester City Borough Council Licensing & Regulation Committee Meeting

Apologies were received as noted above.  In addition, apologies were received from Councillor Becker (Cabinet Member for Community and Engagement).

RESOLVED:

          That Councillor Brophy be appointed as vice-chairperson of the Committee for the 2023/24 municipal year.

There were no declarations of interest made.

RESOLVED:

          That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 7 December 2022 be approved and adopted.

There were no members of the public in attendance.

The Licensing Manager introduced the report and summarised the main changes to the current policy as set out in appendix 1 to the report.  She drew attention to a minor correction to Section B of the policy as set out to correct the numbering to continue to B.4 and B.5 under the new “Counter Terrorism” heading.

The Licensing Manager responded to questions from Members on the following:

a)    The reasons for proposing a specific reference to a procedure for how to deal with Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) which was a specific government campaign. 

b)    The reasons for the introduction of specific reference to Counter Terrorism and how this would be addressed in practice at a local level.

c)    Incidents of drink spiking and how the policy could be used to tackle this issue.

d)    The reasons for the proposed changes to the wording regarding temporary event notices (TENs).  The Licensing Manager explained that restrictions on limits for TENs were set out in relevant regulations or legislation.

e)    The use of the phrase “the policy has no adverse impact on racial groups” in the Equality Impact Assessment (appendix 2 to this report) with particular concern about the use of the word “adverse” in this context.  It was explained that this was the standard wording used across the council.  Councillor Porter stated that Councillor Becker (in her Cabinet role) had agreed to consider this further outside of the meeting.

During discussion, the following amendments to the policy were proposed by members:

a)    Paragraph 3.15 of the policy - replace “his/her” with “their”.

b)    Under Section B, Public Safety, section B.3, amend last bullet point from “Measures on how to prevent drink spiking and a procedure on how to deal with reported incidents” to “Measures on how to prevent drink spiking by training staff (including door staff) in awareness of drink spiking and a procedure on how to deal with reported incidents”.

c)    Change references in Appendix B of the policy from “plastic” to “non-glass based alternatives”.

d)    In the Glossary of terms used section on temporary events notice, remove the wording in the second bullet point as indicated - “scale – not exceeding 499 people present at the event at any one time.”

The Committee agreed that these amendments be made to the policy prior to it being published for consultation.

RESOLVED:

That the reviewed Draft Licensing Policy at Appendix 1 of the report as amended as set out above, be approved for consultation as detailed in paragraphs 10.6 to 10.9 of the report.

The Neighbourhood Service Officer Anti-social Behaviour Lead introduced the report and responded to questions from members on the following:

a)    She confirmed that the police provided data on the number of times the order had been used to confiscate alcohol - it had been used 13 times since the current order was introduced in 2020.  The police did not currently record the numbers of times people had been requested to stop drinking under the order and there would be resource implications of asking them to do this.

b)    She advised that the area covered by the order could only be amended if there was a proven need to do so and would require an extensive public consultation period.

c)     It was noted that the map included within Appendix 1 to the report had been incorrectly labelled and it was confirmed that the order related to an Alcohol Control Zone (not Alcohol Exclusion Zone).

The Committee noted the success of the Order since its introduction and agreed to the recommendations as set out in the report.

RESOLVED:

1.         That the extension of the Public Open Space Protection Order for a further 3 years to 14 September 2026 be agreed; and

2.         That the Strategic Director be authorised to carry out the statutory publication and notification requirements for the extended Order.