Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED – That the Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee held on 29 November 2019 be APPROVED as a  correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no urgent items.

There were no declarations made.

Alicia Patterson updated members on the situation following the launch of the Intoxicated campaign in Leek. The January meeting of ‘Pub Watch’ was attended by the Council’s Licensing Team and the Police. Feedback was given on the campaign by all participants. The Police reported that the officers on duty over Christmas had noted that all the participating premises had used the promotional materials and that the ‘intoxicated’ message was highly visible and distinctive.

Police noted that incidents of Anti-Social Behaviour, violence and disorder associated with drunken behaviour were noticeably down on previous years. The campaign message was welcome as an additional tool in managing alcohol-related crime and disorder.

Pub Watch members reported a good response from staff in wearing the promotional material and bar staff were more confident in refusing service or reporting worries to more senior staff.

Most premises had shared or tweeted social media messages from the Police or Council and had posted pictures of staff wearing the T-Shirts behind the bar in support of the campaign message. All Pub Watch members were prepared to promote the message again when local or national events were likely to result in increased activity in the town.

The Licensing team had been invited to attend a Police Open Day in Stafford in March 2020 where officers Staffordshire-wide would have the opportunity to see the campaign details with a view to extending it across the Force. There were plans to launch the scheme in Biddulph around Easter 2020 and to further extend to Cheadle.

RESOLVED – That the report be NOTED.

The report covered enforcement activity carried out over the period between November 2019 to February 2020.

Details were as follows:-

A variety of breaches were identified in the course of these activities, but were addressed by a voluntary change of behaviour on the part of the licence holder or via specific action by the Licencing Service and partners. No legal action or criminal sanction was necessary in any instance.

It was noted that there were no breaches or complaints received relating to smoking on licenced premises.

A number of Camels had been imported to a farm in the Kingsley Moor area. These were identified under Category 1 of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act and an Animal Welfare Officer and specialist Vet had been on site to assess the situation. It was established that the animals were imported for promotional activities but with a poor business case to support such activities. It was the responsibility of the Licensing Service to ensure the safety and welfare of the animals.

The Safety Advisory Group was now up and running, receiving positive feedback. It was important to ensure adequate marshalling was in place whenever there was a Road Closure in force.

RESOLVED – That the report be NOTED.

Questions were Raised as follows (responses in brackets):-

·         Taxis - Climate Change Concerns regarding Taxis leaving engines running, particularly outside schools. Also, given the Corona Virus outbreak, could hand sanitizer gel be recommended for installation in Taxis? There was only 1 designated Taxi space on the larger public car parks in the area. Could this be increased? (There was a Staffordshire-wide anti-idling campaign running which would be rolled out through the area. A report was presented at the last meeting of this Committee regarding emissions from Taxis and this was gathering pace. The Licencing Service would look at the installation of hand sanitizer gel in Taxis. Advice  was being received on a daily basis regarding the Corona Virus and information would be published on the Council’s website and local press where appropriate. The Council would need to survey car parks to establish whether there was a need for more Taxi spaces on car parks and the County Council would need to be involved. If there was a problem with Taxis taking up spaces preventing public use, enforcement action could be taken.)

·         Licences – Could we recommend that no single-use plastic be used? (Food Inspections involved the use of a pro-forma with the intention of gathering information regarding the type of packaging used.)

·         Puppy-breeding – Was there an update on new legislation regarding breeding and boarding? (New legislation was introduced in late 2019 and the Licensing Service were working with all parties concerned. Breeders / Boarders would be rated on a star system scored out of 5. Breeders / Boarders now had to quote their licence number on any advertisements that they placed. As a separate requirement, animals had to be tagged. This had resulted in a big increase in applications for licences which put a huge demand on the licencing service. The intention of the legislation was to stop / slow the illegal sales of animals.)