Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Councillor David Payne.

There were declarations of interest notified.

It was confirmed that all the items marked in Part 1 would be heard in public and those items marked Part 2 would be heard in private.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2013 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Officers introduced the report advising the committee that a response had been sent to the Home Office on their consultation of the Alcohol Strategy.  The strategy had been discussed at the previous meeting and a response drafted on the comments made.  The response sent to the Home Office on the consultation was attached to the report for information.  The Government had made no further movement on the Alcohol Strategy as nothing had been put into statue so far.

A member asked for an update on the banning of super strength alcohol that had been introduced by Ipswich District Council.

Officers informed the committee that a scheme had been introduced by Ipswich District Council to reduce the sale of super strength alcohol.  Its introduction had been due to the problems being caused by street drinkers in the area.  Following consultation with off licences in the area a condition was added to the licensee’s license to ban the sale of super strength alcohol. Ipswich District Council had received a lot of support from local traders, residents and also the street drinkers themselves. The scheme had been subsidised by Ipswich District Council who had paid a majority of the fee, with licensees paying a peppercorn payment.

It was suggested that if the committee felt that such a scheme would benefit Hillingdon a pilot scheme could be undertaken within Uxbridge Town Centre.  If the scheme was successful in this area it could be rolled out to other Town Centres within Hillingdon.

Officers agreed to e-mail the pack provided at a recent conference attended by officers on the banning of the sale of super strength alcohol by Ipswich District Council.

It was suggested and agreed by the committee that a report be submitted to the next committee to enable a discussion on whether this scheme could be introduced within Hillingdon. The committee also asked officers to produce a list of current hot spots for street drinkers for the next meeting.

Resolved – 

1. That he report be noted.

2.  That officers produce a report for the next meeting on whether a scheme for banning the sale of super strength alcohol could be piloted in Hillingdon and to provide a list of current hot spots for street drinkers.

Officers introduced the report informing the Committee that the articles circulated with the report set out the recent cases in relation to Gambling premises.  The article from the Institute of Licensing starting on page 21 of the report set out opposing views giving both sides of the argument in relation to the controls Local Authorities had over betting shop premises.

A member felt that the Government needed to change the current legislation to enable saturation level and over dominance of betting shops in an area to be taken into consideration.  Currently Local Authorities do not have the opportunity to take this into consideration when considering applications for betting shop licences.   It was felt that betting shops were not interested in people’s quality of life only profits they made from gaming machines. The area given over for gaming machines was usually greater than that given to traditional betting.  It was important that these issues were all tied together and the legislation changed to enable localisation to be undertaken properly.

A member asked for clarification of the information contained on page 19 of the report in relation to the refusal of new betting shop.

Officers advised the Committee that where there was evidence of crime and disorder to support a review in a specific area a special policy for new premises could be produced.

The Chairman advised the committee that Hillingdon had recently rejected a betting shop application as the area had reached saturation point and over dominance the outcome of an appeal was awaited.

Officers advised that the appeal referred to may be dismissed on a technicality as there was no rental agreement on the property.

Newnham Council had recently rejected an application on the grounds that hey would make more money out of gaming machines that traditional betting. Officers agreed to keep Committee Members up to date with the Newnham Council court case.

Officers introduced the report advising members that the current policy had been totally re-written. Once the new policy had been agreed in January 2014 it would only need to be reviewed every 5 years and not 3 years as is currently the case.  The report sets out the proposed timetable for approving the Statement of Licensing Policy. 

The Chairman asked officers to provide the Committee with an early draft of the policy and suggested that the draft timetable for its approval be agreed by the Committee.

It was moved and seconded that the report be noted and the timetable for approval of the Statement of Licensing Policy be agreed.

Resolved -   

1.  That the report be noted.

2.  That the timetable for the approval of the Statement of Licensing Policy as set out in the report was agreed.

The Committee received a report on the Gambling Commission Codes of Practice, which had been consolidated into one document to cover all forms of gambling.

It was moved and seconded that the report be noted.

Resolved - That the report be noted.

The Chairman introduced Inspector David George to the Committee who recently been appointed to cover the North Sector of Hillingdon, which covered 9 wards north of the A40.

Inspector George advised the committee that there were 2 statutory aims of the Metropolitan Police in relation to Licensing within Hillingdon, these were:-

• Venues that had issues of violence, victims of crime / injury, which had an impact on society.
• Protection of young people, affects of alcohol etc.

The fabric of policing was to change as a new structure to the local policing model was being introduced.

Most licensed premises were law abiding and well managed, these premises would be managed by a Safer Neighbourhood Team style of policing with officers making regular contact.  The main focus would be on the smaller percentage of premises that clearly ignore the Licensing Act, which impacted on there local area.

There were concerns and challenges, but the new policing model would provide 1 local named Officer and a Policy Community Support Officer for each ward.  These officers would be supported by a team of officers should this be required.  There would be challenging times ahead but there was a need to ensure that the new model worked for Hillingdon.

The Chairman thanked Inspector George for attending the meeting.  The committee had been encouraged by what had been said and the support that was provided by the Police on licensing issues within Hillingdon.