Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED – That the Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee held on 1 March 2019 be APPROVED as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no urgent items.

There were no declarations made.

Alicia Patterson – Head of Environmental Health – presented the report to members reflecting the period February 2019 to July 2019. The Licensing Service had engaged in a number of enforcement actions, involving reactive responses to complaints and intelligence received from the public and partner agencies as well as proactive compliance checks. The actions were detailed as follows:-

Enforcement Activity

20 Letters / e-mails to Taxi Drivers regarding the Safeguarding Courses and the BTEC course requirements.

2 Pub Watch Meetings (Leek).

10 Joint licensing visits with Staffordshire Fire & Rescue.

1 Joint inspection with EHO (following complaints).

2 Multi agency visits with Immigration/Police/FARS.

13 Licensing inspections.

1 Application for a Time Limited Premises Licence.

1 Application for the Grant of a Premises Licence.

97 Temporary Event Notices (TENs).

29 Late TENs.

5 TENs No Alcohol.

1 Late TEN No Alcohol.

By way of further clarification, photographs of various licensing contravention situations were shown via a Powerpoint Presentation on the screens to illustrate some of the points made in the report. The photographs centred around areas attached to fast-food premises which were clearly being used for residential purposes. In each case, the premises operator denied that the rooms were being used for residential purposes but the evidence indicated otherwise. Staffordshire Fire & Rescue had attended and identified a number of significant issues which contravened fire regulations.

RESOLVED – That the report be NOTED.

Responding to member queries, officers confirmed the following (responses in brackets):-

·         Did the same regulations apply to all licensed premises? (Yes, some were purpose-built for accommodation, some clearly were not.)

·         Were there any specific regulations regarding minors being present in licensed premises? (This depended on the license. Specific conditions could be imposed. The Council had a Safeguarding Policy, matters could be referred to the Staffs County Council Safeguarding Referral Unit.)

·         Were all licensed drivers up to date on safeguarding? (Yes, licenses were renewed every 12 months and safeguarding training was included in the renewal process.)

·         What were the most common problems experienced during licensing inspections? (Mostly fire-related, with a lack of Risk Assessments having been carried out, lack of staff training etc. Problems were also seen with Refusals books.)

·         Was there an excessive number of TENs being issued? (No. There were ‘spikes’ at certain times of year and persons were limited to 15 TENs per year. TENs were only refused if representations had been received regarding previous applications.)

·         What requirements were required of Licensees? (The summary of the Licence had to be displayed on the premises – their name had to be displayed at the entrance. Licence conditions had to be on site to be produced if requested. They did not have to be on site all the time but should be in day-to-day control of the premises.)