| 231 | RECORD OF THE MEETING |
| | | The record of the meeting held on 23 May 2006 was agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct. |
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| 232 | APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE |
| | | Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Andrews, Kenneth Bamber, Davis and Tony Goulden. |
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| 233 | LICENSING ACT 2003 - IMPLEMENTATION UPDATE |
| | | The Committee received a detailed report setting out progress regarding the implementation of the Licensing Act 2003. This Act had come into operation on 24 November 2005 following which the previous liquor, entertainment and late night refreshment licensing systems had ceased to operate and were replaced by a new integrated system.
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| The Licensing Manager reported in detail upon the number of licences, certificates, temporary events notices and transfer applications processed by the Licensing Team directly as a result of the new legislation. It was noted that this had involved a considerable amount of work for both the Licensing Team and those Members serving on the Licensing Hearing Panels. Whilst the volume of applications had begun to decrease it was noticeable that some licence holders were now submitting variation applications to their existing licences, either to increase hours or extend the licenseable activities. The Committee received a breakdown of statistics relating to licence numbers in Medway in comparison with other licensing authorities in Kent. The Committee noted that from the information received Medway had received a higher level of applications than other authorities.
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| The Licensing Manager reported upon the educational materials produced by the Licensing Team, copies of which were available at the meeting.
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| The Committee noted that since May 2005 over 120 Licensing Hearing Panels had sat to determine premises' licence applications where "relevant representations" had been made by the responsible authorities, parish councils or interested parties (including the public and Ward Councillors). Arising from the decisions of the Licensing Hearing Panels, only four appeals had been lodged by applicants aggrieved by the panels' decision and of the four, two had been resolved by negotiation, one had been placed before the Magistrates' Court on a technicality concerning interpretation of information at the panel hearing and one other appeal had run its full course at the Magistrates' Court following which the Magistrates had granted the applicant slightly longer hours than agreed by the panel but not the full hours applied for.
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| With regard to the statement of licensing policy approved by the Council on 9 December 2004, it was noted that this policy statement had taken affect on 7 February 2005 and remained in force for a period of three years. The licensing policy had formed the background to all Licensing Act 2003 application decisions taken by both Members and officers. It was considered that the existing statement of licensing policy was working well as the number of appeals lodged had been extremely low and to date the content of the policy had not been challenged in the courts. Taking this into account, it was not considered that the statement of licensing policy required review at this time.
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| With regard to reviews of premises' licences, it was noted that the Licensing Act 2003 made provision for existing premises' licenses to be reviewed. Training for Members on reviews had been scheduled for 24 October 2006.
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| The Committee was reminded that a key area of the Licensing Act 2003 involved enforcement and appended to the report was a schedule of licensing enforcement activities for the period 24 November 2005 to 31 August 2006.
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| It was noted that the Licensing Act 2003 required licensing authorities to establish local licensing forums consisting of Councillors, officers, statutory agencies, trade representatives and the public and officers were currently investigating how best this could be effectively achieved and a further report would be submitted to the Committee at a future meeting. |
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| | > Licensing Act 2003 - Implementation update (pdf file 23.1kb) |
| | > Licensing Act 2003 - Implementation update - Appendix A (pdf file 7.1kb) |
| 234 | MEETINGS WITH THE TAXI TRADE |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Licensing Manager informed the Committee that the Licensing Team currently liaised and met with the taxi trade via the Transport and General Workers' Union (Medway Cab Branch) (T&G) and the Association of Independent Taxi Drivers (AITD). Arising from discussions with the Chairman of the T&G and the Leader of the Council it had been suggested that representatives of the taxi trade meet regularly with representatives from the Licensing and Safety Committee and appropriate Council officers. The Licensing Manager pointed out that there were sections of the hackney carriage and private hire trade who were not currently represented by the T&G or the AITD and therefore it was suggested that such meetings take the form of a forum which would consist of appointed Councillors from the Licensing and Safety Committee and officers, elected representatives from across all sections of the hackney carriage and private hire trade and any interested groups where relevant. It was stressed that the forum would consider relevant taxi related items and put forward views and recommendations to the appropriate Council Committees but would not be a decision-making body. |
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| | > Meetings with taxi trade (pdf file 10.8kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | It was agreed in principle that a forum be established with representatives of the Licensing and Safety Committee and representatives of the taxi trade and appropriate officers and the Licensing Manager be requested to submit a full report on the proposed composition, frequency of meetings, etc, of the forum to the next meeting of the Licensing and Safety Committee on 17 October 2006. |
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| 235 | START TIME OF FUTURE MEETINGS |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Chairman suggested that future meetings of the Licensing and Safety Committee commence at 6pm and sought the Committee's views. |
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| | > Meetings with taxi trade (pdf file 10.8kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | It was agreed that future meetings of the Licensing and Safety Committee commence at 6pm. |
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