Document Pack (Bookmarked and Agenda) Licensing Forum - 6 September 2022
West Dunbartonshire Council · 6 September 2022
Back to Licensing Board — 6 September 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE LICENSING FORUM 24 August 2022 Dear Sir/Madam, The Statutory Joint Meeting of the West Dunbartonshire Licensing Forum and Licensing Board will commence at 10.00 a.m. on Tuesday, 6 September 2022 (see separate agenda) Notice is hereby given that a Meeting of the West Dunbartonshire Licensing Forum will be held immediately following the conclusion of the Joint Meeting. This will be a Hybrid meeting where Members have the option to attend the meeting remotely via Zoom Video Conference, or in person at the Civic Space, 16 Church Street, Dumbarton, G82 1QL. The business of the Licensing Forum Meeting is as shown on the enclosed agenda. Yours faithfully PAUL SMITH Chair to the Licensing Forum Page 1
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BUSINESS OF MEETING:- 1 APOLOGIES 2 CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT The Chairperson, Mr Paul Smith, will provide an update on the business of the Forum for 2022/23. 3 MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING 5 – 9 Submit for approval as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting of the Licensing Forum held on 14 June 2022. 4 COVID-19 AND IMPACT ON LICENSING IN SCOTLAND UPDATE Mr Paul Smith, Chairperson, will provide a verbal update on the impact of Covid-19 on Licensing in Scotland. 5 LICENSING STANDARDS OFFICERS – UPDATE The Licensing Standards Officers will provide a verbal update on issues and events that may be of interest to the Forum. 6 LICENSING (SCOTLAND) ACT 2005 – STATISTICAL INFORMATION: PERSONAL AND PREMISES LICENCES The Forum is advised that premises and personal licence applications, in terms of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 for the period 22 February 2022 to 20 May 2022, have been received as follows:- Premises Licence Applications No. Applications for Premises Licences granted 266 Applications for Premises Licences refused 13 Applications for Premises Licences (Members’ Clubs) granted 32 Applications for Major Variation of Premises Licence granted 205 Page 2
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Applications for Variation of Premises Licence pending Hearings 1 Applications for Provisional Premises Licence pending Hearings 0 Application for Provisional Premises Licence (Members’ Club) 0 Application for Temporary Premises Licence pending Hearing 0 Application for Premises Licence pending 0 Premises Licences revoked 0 Personal Licence Applications No. Applications for Personal Licences received 1438 Personal Licences issued 1431 Application for Personal Licence refused 4 Application for Personal Licence revoked 3 7 UPDATE FROM POLICE SCOTLAND David Holmes, the Licensing Sergeant, Police Scotland, will provide a verbal update on policing in the West Dunbartonshire area. 8 PROPOSAL FOR NEW MEMBER OF WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE LICENSING FORUM Submit proposal from Licensing Standards Officer for a new Member of West Dunbartonshire Licensing Forum. 9 CURRENT TRENDS IN LICENSING Members are requested to consider any current trends in licensing. 10 ANY OTHER BUSINESS Members are requested to consider any other business with the Forum. 10 DATE OF NEXT MEETING The Forum is requested to agree the date, time and venue of its next meeting. It is suggested that the meeting be held on Tuesday, 29 November 2022 at 2.00 p.m. as a Hybrid Meeting, with Members having the option of attending in person in the Civic Space, 16 Church Street, Dumbarton, or remotely via Zoom Video Conference. Page 3
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Distribution:- Holders of Premises Licences and Personal Licences:- Paul Smith, Licence Holder & Representative of Entertainment Section of Licensed Trade (Acting Chairperson) Ian McLean, Representative of the On Sales Section of the Licensed Trade Craig McLaughlin, Personal Licence Holder/Premises Licence Operator Representative of the Chief Constable:- Sergeant David Holmes, Licensing Sergeant, L Division, Police Scotland Persons having functions relating to Health, Education and Social Work:- Sylvia Chatfield, Head of Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Addictions, West Dunbartonshire Community Health and Care Partnership Representative for Young People:- Jessica Boyle, Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament - Dumbarton & Alexandria Tian-Qi Yu, Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament - Clydebank & Milngavie Representative of Persons resident within the Forum’s area:- Linda Speir, Silvertoun and Overtoun Community Council Pauline Larking, Bonhill and Dalmonoak Community Council Isabel Plunkett, Old Kilpatrick Community Council Representative of Members Clubs within the Forum’s area:- Vacancy Representative of Supermarkets:- Allan Cowan, Lidl Supermarket, Dumbarton Representative of Pubwatch:- Vacancy Chair of the Licensing Board:- Councillor Ian Dickson Councillor June McKay Licensing Standards Officers:- Peter Clyde, Licensing Standards Officer Lawrence Knighton, Licensing Standards Officer Officers:- Peter Hessett, Clerk to the Licensing Board Nigel Ettles, Interim Depute Clerk to the Licensing Board Robert Mackie, Senior Officer (Licensing Services), Regulatory For information on the above agenda please contact Lynn Straker, Committee Officer, Regulatory, Municipal Buildings, Station Road, Dumbarton G82 1NR Email: lynn.straker@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Page 4
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Minutes of Meeting of West Dunbartonshire Local Licensing Forum Tuesday, 14 June 2022 at 2.00 p.m. held by Zoom Video Conference Present: Paul Smith, Representative for Entertainment Section of the Licensed Trade (Chair of Licensing Forum) Councillor Ian Dickson, Chair of the Licensing Board Lawrence Knighton, Licensing Standards Officer (LSO), West Dunbartonshire Council Sergeant David Holmes, Police Scotland – Licensing Sergeant for West Dunbartonshire Sylvia Chatfield - Head of Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Addictions, West Dunbartonshire Council Pauline Larking, Bonhill and Dalmonach Community Council Councillor John Millar, Member of Licensing Board, West Dunbartonshire Council Councillor Lawrence O’Neill, Member of Licensing Board, West Dunbartonshire Council Attending: Nigel Ettles, Interim Depute Clerk to the Licensing Board Lynn Straker, Committee Officer, West Dunbartonshire Council Also Attending: Christine Anderson, Health Improvement - Health and Social Care Partnership Sophie Marshall, Working4U Development Officer Apologies: Councillor June McKay, Member of Licensing Board, West Dunbartonshire Council Peter Clyde, Licensing Standards Officer (LSO), West Dunbartonshire Council Craig McLaughlin, Representative for Premises Licence Holders Linda Speir, Silverton and Overtoun Community Council Isobel Plunkett, Old Kilpatrick Community Council Tian Qi Yu, MSYP Representative Jessica Boyle, MSYP Representative Mr Paul Smith in the Chair CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT The Chairperson, Mr Paul Smith, provided an update on the business of the Forum for 2022/23. He welcomed the new Members of the West Dunbartonshire Licensing Board and thanked the outgoing Chair of the Licensing Board, Councillor Ian Item 3 Page 5
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Dickson, for his dedicated work and commitment to the Licensing Forum throughout his tenure. He noted that West Dunbartonshire Licensing Board and Licensing Forum had been pioneering in the work they had done throughout the Covid pandemic and endured what had been a particularly difficult time for the hospitality industry. He added that there were tough times ahead for the industry and its recovery would take some time. He also commented on the additional pressures facing the industry, namely:- • The cost of living crisis; • The increase in costs of electricity and gas, particularly in a commercial sense having almost doubled making the running of hospitality establishments a costly business; • The loss of client base for hospitality, with numbers of customers turning to the off-sales market rather than on-sales premises; and • The cost of large debts that had been run up throughout the lockdown months. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The Minutes of the Meeting of the Licensing Forum held on 8 March 2022 were submitted and approved as a correct record. A REVIEW OF LICENSING RELATED ACTIVITY CARRIED OUT BY HEALTH THROUGHOUT 2021/22 Sylvia Chatfield, Head of Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Addictions within West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership, provided an overview of health activity during 2021/22 in relation to Licensing. She detailed the current Alcohol Harm Indicators which were used by Health when reviewing and responding to licensing applications and noted, in comparison to Scotland overall, West Dunbartonshire’s stats were the worse. Sylvia also updated the Forum on the current Planet Youth in Scotland survey which was completed by S3 pupils in Clydebank High School giving a better understanding of our young people and their access to and consumption of alcohol. Sylvia lastly noted that West Dunbartonshire had some of the worst alcohol harm rates in Scotland and asked the Forum to note these findings and support measures to tackle the problem. COVID-19 AND IMPACT ON LICENSING IN SCOTLAND UPDATE Mr Smith, Chairperson, provided a verbal update on the impact of Covid-19 on Licensing in Scotland. He advised that we are beginning to now see the data on the significant shift of consumption of alcohol from the On-Sales trade premises to Off-Sales which was understandable when the hospitality industry was Page 6
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effectively closed but had now re-opened, showing that customers were still slow in returning. He advised that it was worth noting that the cost of production of alcohol, including the cost of ingredients, had sky-rocketed in recent months since the pandemic had eased, which would inevitably increase the on-trade price of alcohol. He further advised that only the large supermarkets would be better equipped to absorb the additional costs effectively and this could really effect the smaller on-trade and off- sales licensed premises. Lastly, Mr Smith advised that one of the key duties of the Licensing Board was to produce an Overprovision Policy. The existing Policy would have to be refreshed and all of partner agencies who inputted significantly to the existing Policy would be required to liaise and update their contribution to the new Policy. He asked Lawrence Knighton, Licensing Standards Officer for West Dunbartonshire Council to research what was required and also the deadline date for the new Overprovision Policy and circulate this information to Forum members. LICENSING STANDARDS OFFICER’S – UPDATE Lawrence Knighton, Licensing Standards Officer, West Dunbartonshire Council provided a verbal update on issues and events that may be of interest to the Forum. He noted that Pub watches had been successfully re-established since the pandemic which was good news for the trade. He advised that they were noticing a certain amount of normality returning to the trade such as larger events taking place, e.g. the Kiltwalk and Pipe Band Championships etc. Equally there was an increased amount of interest in smaller community events and West Dunbartonshire had received 245 occasional license applications this year so far and the average pre- pandemic was 300 for the full year so it appeared things were back on track to where they were prior to the pandemic. Mr Knighton also noted that there was an ongoing project to reduce trouble in local green space and parks etc. in conjunction with Police Scotland aimed at making outdoor spaces safer. He also asked for assistance from the Forum on the use of Occasional Licenses for outdoor beer gardens on Licensed Premises. The regulations for Occasional Licenses being granted were relaxed during the pandemic to make socialising and social distancing easier, however this relaxing of the rules will cease in September 2022 and there was concern that the Scottish Government may then request the applicant to seek Planning permission for the outdoor space, so Forum members will need to liaise closely to decide if Occasional Licenses going forward will continue to be the norm or if it would be for Planning to make the final decision. The Licensing Board will require to work closely to ensure correct decisions are made on applications; particularly when there has been very little trouble, if any at all, driven from these outdoor spaces and they have been of great assistance to the trade. Page 7
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LICENSING (SCOTLAND) ACT 2005 – STATISTICAL INFORMATION: PERSONAL AND PREMISES LICENCES The Forum was advised that premises and personal licence applications, in terms of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 for the period 22 February 2022 to 20 May 2022, had been received as follows:- Premises Licence Applications No. Applications for Premises Licences granted 266 Applications for Premises Licences refused 13 Applications for Premises Licences (Members’ Clubs) granted 32 Applications for Major Variation of Premises Licence granted 205 Applications for Variation of Premises Licence pending Hearings 1 Applications for Provisional Premises Licence pending Hearings 0 Application for Provisional Premises Licence (Members’ Club) 0 Application for Temporary Premises Licence pending Hearing 0 Application for Premises Licence pending 0 Premises Licences revoked 0 Personal Licence Applications No. Applications for Personal Licences received 1438 Personal Licences issued 1431 Application for Personal Licence refused 4 Application for Personal Licence revoked 3 UPDATE FROM POLICE SCOTLAND The Licensing Sergeant, Sergeant David Holmes, Police Scotland, introduced himself to the Forum as this was his first meeting and stated that he was looking forward to working closely with Members of the Forum. He advised, from a Police perspective, that they were beginning to see a return to normal in terms of post- pandemic and the public slowly returning to on-sales premises. He noted that since he had been appointed to the Licensing Sergeant role there had not been anything glaring or urgent requiring to be dealt with in terms of License trade in West Dunbartonshire. Any incidents which had been raised he had noted that Police Scotland had worked well with the LSOs and License holders to offer additional support and be more pro-active in the area to ensure it did not happen again. Sergeant Holmes advised that he would liaise with LSOs and the Interim Depute Clerk in the coming months and discuss anything he could bring back to the next Licensing Forum meeting. DATE OF NEXT MEETING The Forum was requested to agree the date, time and venue of its next meeting. It was proposed that the next meeting be held as a Joint Meeting of the Licensing Page 8
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Board and the Licensing Forum on Tuesday, 6 September 2022 at 10.00 a.m. as a Hybrid Meeting, with Members having the option of attending in person in the Civic Space, 16 Church Street, Dumbarton, or remotely via Zoom Video Conference. The Forum noted that this date, time and format would require to be approved by the new Chair of the Licensing Board on 21 June 2022 and by West Dunbartonshire Council on 22 June 2022, and that Members of the Licensing Forum would be emailed to confirm the date once fully agreed. The meeting closed at 2.57 p.m. Page 9