Issue - meetings

To consider the Statement of Licensing Policy in Brent as part of a pre-decision consultation.

The Chair welcomed Cllr Miller, Lead Member for Community Safety & Engagement to the meeting introduced the report and highlighted that the Committee had before them a pre-scrutiny update for their perusal and feedback.

Councillor Miller added that the briefing paper provided important update and sought views from members of the Scrutiny Committee as part of a pre-decision scrutiny consultation with regards to the proposed draft Statement of Licensing Policy. He stated that the report contained a range of vital measures, including minimum unit pricing, along with other matters, to ensure that drinking in Brent took place in a regulated environment that struck a careful balance between supporting the night-time economy along with tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) and consideration of the welfare and safety of the community and stakeholders.

After his introduction, Councillor Miller handed over to Yogini Patel (Senior Regulatory Service Manager, Brent Council) to provide further details and the following key points were highlighted:

·               Since the last review in 2015 that did not have evidence of ASB and other issues, a lot of work had been carried out gone into this area and it now included hot spots including areas with less housing space, consideration of 24-hour economy in the Borough particularly Wembley and Kilburn and to tackle negative behaviour and crime.

·               New off-licenses to meet stricter criteria, welcoming approach to on-licences with food and entertainment to provide a healthier mix to community.

·               70p unit limit price and potential restrictions until it could be proven that an establishment/licensee was not contributing to the problem.

·               Before determining the Policy, the Licensing Authority must consult the persons listed in section 5(3) of the Licensing Act 2003. As was good practice, the licensing authority would consult more widely and not only limit it to the persons listed in section 5(3) of the Act. Section 5 of the report outlined that the Licensing Authority would consult widely. Persons to be consulted include: Chief Police Officer, London Fire Brigade, Director of Public Health, local premises licence holders, club premises licence certificate holders as well as bodies representative of businesses, residents, Planning, Trading Standards, Children Safeguarding, Public Safety, Noise Team, Licensing Authority and Home Office.

·               Consultation would also be undertaken with members of the Licensing Sub-committee, and with members in areas where proposed cumulative impact zones were proposed.

·               The consultation commenced on 23rd August 2019 and would end on 4th October 2019. Brent Forums would be consulted and their comments and views would be considered as the dates for the forums fell outside the period for on-line consultations.

The Chair thanked the Lead Member and Officer for the introduction to the report and subsequently invited questions from the Committee with Members spotlighting on the following key areas:

·               The role of mystery shoppers and limiting sales of alcohol in the stadium and other problematic areas should be further encouraged.

·               CCTV recordings were kept for 31 days. Yogini Patel clarified that the recordings could not be watched live due to home office guidance.

·               Police and the Licensing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7