Borough of Poole – Licensing Committee 13 October 2010

BOROUGH OF POOLE

LICENSING COMMITTEE

13 OCTOBER 2010

The Meeting commenced at 7:02pm and concluded at 8:32pm

Present

Councillor Mrs Butt (Chairman)

Councillors Burden and Curtis (Co-Vice Chairmen)

Councillors Adams, Brown, Collier, Mrs Evans, Gillard and Mason

Also Present

Michelle Coplestone – Democratic Support Officer, Legal and Democratic Services

Frank Wenzel – Principal Licensing Officer, Environmental and Consumer Protection Services

Lisa Gardner – Democratic Support Officer, Legal and Democratic Services

Bruce Carmichael – Principal Surveyor, Building Consultancy

LC16.10APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Matthews, Montrose and Wilkins.

LC17.10DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

No declarations of interest were made.

LC18.10MINUTES

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Licensing Committee held on 21 July 2010, the Licensing Sub-Committees held on 20 July 2010 and 30 July 2010 and the Minutes of the Taxi and Private Hire Sub-Committees held on 17 June 2010 and 8 September 2010, having been previously circulated, be taken as read and confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

LC19.10PRESENTATION: THE ROLE OF BUILDING CONSULTANCY IN LICENSING OUTSIDE EVENTS

The Committee received a PowerPoint Presentation from Bruce Carmichael, Principal Surveyor, Building Consultancy, which explained the role of Building Consultancy in respect of licensing outside events.

The Presentation provided information on the following areas:

  • Legislation
  • Design Guidance
  • Different Types of Structures
  • Structural Assessments
  • Environmental Factors
  • Fire Safety
  • Health and Safety

The Committee was advised that Building Consultancy had Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in place with Environmental and Consumer Protection Services (ECPS) and Leisure Services. The SLAs were in place to provide advice in respect of temporary structures and events and included officer attendance at Safety Advisory Groups, Site Visits and Meetings.

Building Consultancy Staff acted as internal consultants to both ECPS and Leisure Services, however, Building Consultancy was not a formal statutory consultee under Licensing Legislation. Building Consultancy provided an expert ‘witness of fact’ service for ECPS, which could support any formal enforcement action.

The Committee was informed that various temporary events in Poole included the Poole Park Festival (Poole Park), ‘Grooves on the Green’ (Parkstone Park), ‘Proms in the Park ‘(Upton House and Country Park) and Sand Polo (Sandbanks Beach).

The Principal Surveyor referred to a number of Design Guides that were used in the planning of temporary events and advised on the various types of structures available including stages, tents and seating.

The following areas were then discussed:-

  • Open stages
  • The structural design of stages
  • Wind loadings
  • Designed marquees
  • Traditional marquees
  • Sound rigs
  • Temporary seating
  • Toilet provision
  • Fences
  • Pit barriers
  • Structural assessments
  • Environmental factors
  • Weather forecasts
  • Fire safety / Fire safety occupancy
  • General health and safety/specific health and safety
  • Inspections

In response to questions the Principal Surveyor advised that:-

  • The provision of a touring circus was a licensable activity, which was previously exempt under the Licensing Act 2003. The circus tent would usually be hired from a specialistwho would erect the tent.
  • Prior to the Licensing Act 2003, Local Authorities (LAs) could charge up to £8,000 to carry out Health and Safety checks, however, this was no longer the case and LAs now had to cover the costs, which could not be recovered.
  • Gas and electric supplies had to be checked annually on licensed premises.
  • When licensable outside events took place on land owned by the Council,Leisure Services would notify Building Consultancy who would provide advice under the SLA.For any other outside event/venue, Licensing would have to pay the costs. It was noted that the current Licensing fee was £100.

RESOLVED that the Presentation be noted.

LC20.10DEATH OF THE VENDING MACHINE

The Principal Licensing Officer, Environmental and Consumer Protection Services (ECPS), advised that following indications the Government was to review legislation introduced by the previous Government to ban cigarette vending machines from pubs and tobacco displays from retailers, no further information had been received and Government advice was still outstanding on whether the legislation would be adopted. The Committee was advised than an update would be provided when available.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

LC21.10INFORMATION UPDATE – LICENSING ACT 2003

The Principal Licensing Officer, Environmental and Consumer Protection Services (ECPS), presented an “Information Update” with regard to the Licensing Act 2003.

The following areas were discussed:-

Teeside First to Look to Minimum Price Per Unit

The Committee was informed that Middlesbrough Council had recently published its Consultation Document in which it was seeking responses to its suggestion of imposing a minimum unit price of 50 pence per unit for all alcohol products sold under a Premises Licence.

It was noted that the legality of this was questionable as the Body of European Law suggested that such a requirement was unlawful as it was “price fixing”.

New Method to Tackle Binge Drinking in Young People

Researchers at Aston University had developed a new way to help young people control their drinking as they had found that over 500 students from UK Universities did not know what a “unit” of alcohol looked like or what safe levels of alcohol intake were.

The researchers had found that techniques used on people with serious drinking problems in A&E Departments could be adopted to help reduce student drinking.

A discussion ensued and the following points were raised:

  • Should Health Authorities be made a Responsible Authority?
  • There was an issue with persons preloading (consuming alcohol at home etc prior to going to licensed premises to continue drinking alcohol).It was noted that licensed premises should not be serving alcohol to persons deemed to be ‘drunk’; however, it was not possible for licensed premises to prove how much alcohol a person had consumed or where it had been consumed.
  • Only a Police Officer had the authority to declare a person ‘drunk’ and this led to a discussion on how it was possible to tell when someone was ‘drunk’.

The Committee felt that the Police should be more proactive in investigating which licensed premises were serving customers that were already deemed to be ‘drunk’ as the issue needed to be addressed. The Committee felt that Publicans needed to be further educated in this area so that appropriate action could be taken.

A Member asked if there were techniques available to address drinking issues and asked whether persons admitted to the A&E Department because of excessive alcohol consumption could be charged for their treatment?

The Principal Licensing Officer advised that in the past, Poole’s A&E Department had been asked to collect statistics with regard to where the Ambulance Service had collected persons requiring help due to excessive alcohol consumption; however, it had been unable to do this.

It was noted that Poole’sA&E Department was extremely busy on Friday and Saturday evenings as a result of persons who had consumed too much alcohol requiring treatment. Members were advised that the A&E Department had a policy in place to refer those under the influence of alcohol to the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy Team.

The Principal Licensing Officer advised that he would be meeting with the Chairman of the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy in the forthcoming week to discuss where persons were being served in order to get ‘drunk’ and that he would bring up the issues raised by Members.

A Member commented that residents were caused discomfort and could be put at risk by persons who had consumed too much alcohol.

The Meeting then received updates on the following areas, as detailed in the Report:-

  • Two new conditions to appear on every licence
  • Man charged with illegal supply of gambling machines
  • Heavy fire for illegal machine supplier
  • Fresh call for alcohol glass ban
  • Equality Act 2010 – implications for Taxis and Private Hire vehicles and drivers
  • Scottish Health Boards to be consulted in all licensing decisions.

RESOLVEDthat the Principal Licensing Officer, Environmental and Consumer Protection Services, discuss with the Chairman of the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy, the points raised by the Committee in relation to the pressures on the A&E Department (caused by persons consuming excessive amounts of alcohol) and how measures could be taken to prevent licensed premises from serving persons who were deemed to be “drunk”.

LC22.10URGENT BUSINESS

The Principal Licensing Officer, Environmental and Consumer Protection Services, asked Members to contact the Chairman and the Clerk with ideas for any topics that they wished to be informed of at future Meetings.

CHAIRMAN

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