Agenda item

The Committee received a report on the draft Licensing Policy. The Licensing Authority had a legal obligation to publish a licensing policy statement, ‘Policy’, which set out its approach to promoting the licensing objectives when performing its licensing functions. A Policy must be published every five years under the Act, following a period of formal consultation and review. The Council’s licensing service was currently operating under separate legacy policies reflecting the four former district council areas. Under the terms of the transitional legislation, Buckinghamshire Council had two years to prepare and publish a new single licensing policy under the Act and align service provision. The deadline for publication and implementation of the new Policy was no later than 1 April 2022. A pre-draft policy consultation exercise had been carried out and the results have helped shape Buckinghamshire Council’s first draft Licensing Policy Statement. 107 individual responses were received which were broadly representative 30% from residents, 23% from businesses and 35% from councillors. Broadly there was support from those consulted to the new draft licensing policy.

It was proposed that historic cumulative impact and special hour’s policies were not included in the new draft Policy due to lack of sufficient required supporting evidence. ‘Cumulative impact’ was about the concentration of licensed premises in a particular area and the impacts of this. Currently only Aylesbury town centre had a cumulative impact policy. Evidence from the police and local residents had historically supported the view that a high concentration of late licensed premises has had a detrimental impact and contributed to public nuisance and crime and disorder. The police’s view was that the historic cumulative impact policy had been an effective tool in containing the negative impacts of late night licensed premises.

Whilst these views were valid they must be balanced against the available evidence provided and the views of all stakeholders. While there were clear concerns from the police that the removal of the cumulative impact policy linked to “high risk premises” would lead to an increase in crime and disorder related issues (and therefore in the costs of policing), the available evidence at this stage was arguably inconclusive. Furthermore, over 82% of stakeholders responding to the survey support the view that the cumulative impact should be removed but kept under assessment going forward. Cumulative impact policies could be re-introduced if supported by an assessment of the available evidence and this would be kept under review over the next 12 months with a further report to the Licensing Committee.

Five other areas were mentioned in the survey as being impacted by a high concentration of licensed premises: High Wycombe, Marlow, Beaconsfield, Buckingham and Amersham on the Hill. While no supporting evidence had been submitted to support this view at this stage, these areas would be closely monitored by the licensing service with a view to considering the introduction of CIA policies if evidence supports this approach.

There was also a terminal hour’s policy for Buckingham due to students from the university and disturbance to residents living in close proximity. While opinion from respondents was split (46%supportive of removal and 47% supportive of retention), it appeared that there was insufficient evidence at present to support the retention of a special hour’s policy for Buckingham.

Members noted that the Policy was also an opportunity to promote and encourage adherence to other council policies, priorities and strategies. A number of such areas have been identified, many of which not only promote the licensing objectives but also Buckinghamshire Council’s key priories such as safeguarding children and the public health policy.

Subject to agreement by the Licensing Committee, the draft Policy would be consulted upon widely for a period of 6 weeks. The results of the consultation would be reported back to the Licensing Committee for further consideration prior to referral to Full Council for adoption.

During discussion the following points were made by Members:

·         A Member expressed concern of removing the cumulative impact policy on current license holders which could open them up to more competition when they were trying to bounce back from the pandemic. The Principal Licensing Officer reported that the normal consultation channels had been used during Covid as previous years so that there should not be any difficulty for anyone putting a response forward.

·         The Member above also asked a question regarding what weighting was given to comments from councillors and the police as it could be easy to skew the figures of the general public with getting people to reply on one particular area. The Principal Licensing Officer reported that no weighting was applied but there was 82% in favour across the board from all stakeholders. Licensing authorities should give significant weight to comments from the responsible authorities particularly the police. The decision was not taken lightly but had to be made on the evidence produced but that was why they were considering doing a review in 12 months. The Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries and Crematoria Services reported that they had extensive conversations with the police as the lead agency for crime and disorder. There had been a decrease in violent crime therefore there was no link between the licensed premises and crime. The comment from the local police was that the problem occurred for them at closing time when all the premises closed at the same time. If this restrictive policy was not in place there could be premises that have different closing times to stagger the impact. Licensing officers would work with the police to look at the data and collect evidence and if this policy was reintroduced it would need to be considered in the context of the whole of Buckinghamshire not just Aylesbury.

·         Reference was made to having a one size fits all policy across Buckinghamshire which was very diverse. It was noted that the cumulative impact policy had been implemented in Aylesbury previously because of past crime and disorder issues, which were no longer there. Over the next 12 months Licensing Officers would be looking at particular areas across Buckinghamshire where concerns had been raised to see if it met the threshold for a cumulative impact policy. If there was any evidence, then this would be presented to the Committee for a decision on whether this policy should be imposed or reinstated. The Member commented that 12 months from now the County would still be coming out of the effects of the pandemic and the Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries and Crematoria Services agreed that this was not an entirely representative period and that they may need longer and the date of 12 months was a target date to have a discussion with the Committee who may not wish to make a final decision at that time.

·         A comment was made on the need to level up the policies rather than level down and apply the Aylesbury policy across the County. The Member also commented that the survey sample was too small. The Principal Licensing Officer referred to the change in legislation in 2018 that the cumulative impact assessments should be put more on a statutory footing and the guidance was clear that evidence was needed to support this decision. The evidence base needed to be regularly scrutinised. The Member commented that he felt that the evidence base to take it away was not strong enough. The Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries and Crematoria Services reported that whilst the policy could be removed this did not take away the control of the Council and the police and they could call a review of a licence at any time in relation to the four licensing objectives. Any new application had to go out to public consultation and gave residents the opportunity to object and if objections were received would need to be considered by Licensing Sub-Committees.

·         A Member commented that this was a draft Licensing Policy which was going out to consultation so at the end of the consultation Members could review the comments made on the cumulative impact policy to see if it was the right approach to remove it. The Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries and Crematoria Services reported that following the consultation they would analyse the data and present the report to the Committee with a recommendation and it would be a decision for Members on how they wished to proceed.

On a vote being taken (proposed by Cllr Wood and seconded by Cllr Baum) five were in favour with two abstentions and it was RESOLVED that:

1. the content of the draft new Licensing Policy Statement for Buckinghamshire Council as required under the Licensing Act 2003 be agreed and;
2. the commencement of a public consultation on the new Buckinghamshire Council Licensing Policy be agreed.