Venue: Committee Room 5 - Town House. View directions
Contact: Dmitry Gavin on 01224 52123 or email dgavin@aberdeencity.gov.uk
Items
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1. |
APPOINTMENT OF CONVENER
Following the resignation of Garry Burnett,
the Forum is asked to appoint a replacement Convener.
Minutes:
In the absence of a
Convener or Vice Convener, the Forum appointed Linda Smith as
Acting Convener.
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2. |
DEFERRAL OF BUSINESS
Minutes:
In light of the
small number of members in attendance and the pressing issue of
responding to the Licensing Board on its further consultation on
the Statement of Licensing Policy (SLP), the Forum agreed to defer
all items of business except for the SLP consultation response, and
to convene a further meeting in early December to allow the other
items of business to be dealt with.
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3. |
LICENSING BOARD DRAFT STATEMENT OF LICENSING POLICY - CONSULTATION RESPONSE
Minutes:
With reference to
its meetings of 23 August and 11
September, 2013, the Forum had before it the Licensing
Board’s draft Statement of Licensing Policy for the purposes
of agreeing a response to the further consultation. The Board had
agreed at its meeting on 8 October, 2013 to hold a further short
period of consultation, closing on 12 November, and had accordingly
issued a copy of the draft review of the SLP. The Forum had been
included in this circulation and had this before it for
consideration.
The Acting Convener
explained that the purpose of the meeting today was to agree a
response from the Forum as part of this extended consultation,
focusing particularly on the comments and queries raised by the
Board when it had considered the Forum’s first submission,
agreed on 23 August and amended on 11 September. The Forum should
therefore focus on these queries and comments and agree whether it
wished to respond to them and if yes, how it wished to respond.
Whilst the Forum did have access to the submissions made by other
bodies and organisations, it should restrict itself to the Forum
submission alone. Following the meeting, the response would be sent
round the members present here today to ratify the exact wording to
be used.
The Forum
resolved:-
to approve a
response to the extended consultation, as outlined in the appendix
to this minute.
- LINDA SMITH, Acting Convener.
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4. |
LICENSING BOARD DRAFT STATEMENT OF LICENSING POLICY - CONSULTATION RESPONSE  PDF 139 KB
Forum members are asked to follow the link
included in the letter, and highlight any areas for discussion at
the meeting. The Forum’s submission and the response to the
consultation exercise, are both contained within pages 1-23.
Subsequent pages contain submissions from other
bodies/organisations which you may also wish to view. This has not
been printed due to the number of pages.
Minutes:
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Issue
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Query/comment from Licensing
Board
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Response from Forum
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Overprovision
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None directly to the
Forum.
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Reiterate
original submission from the Forum in relation to overprovision,
with no further evidence to be added to the statistics provided by
the Forum on proximity to premises; and ask that the Board
undertake consultation with communities over the next 12 month
period to establish what provision those communities think is
required in terms of both on and off-sales.
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Licensed Hours
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Explanation required to justify
recommendation that opening hours should be amended (opening time
to be amended from 10am to 11am).
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Noted the insertion of the word
“maximum”.
Retain submission that opening time be amended to 11am and
explain that it was intended that this
revision address the issue of overall provision and availability,
and the resultant impact from a ‘harm’ perspective,
however to acknowledge that provision is made within the policy for
a 14 hour maximum, and to emphasise that the Forum would not wish
the terminal hour to be extended as a result of a later opening
time.
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CCTV
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The Forum had asked that the
Board look at whether CCTV radio link should be introduced for all
premises as good practiceand is unclear why outside seating areas
are excluded from CCTV and asks the Board to review its position in
this area, however, the Board states that the policy already
recommends CCTV or membership of Radiolink to be introduced as control measures
where appropriate. Moreover, these measures may not necessarily be
appropriate for all licensed premises.
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The Forum takes the view that it is best practice to recommend use
of CCTV in all premises (on and off sales) as it relates to all the
licensing objectives, but particularly Preventing Crime and
Disorder, Securing Public Health and Protecting Children from Harm.
It also affects Public Health and Public Nuisance, albeit to a
lesser degree. This view also supports the comments made by the
Forum in its first submission to the Board about making alcohol
less visible to children/public at front of premise. The Forum has
also identified concerns about increased theft especially with
smaller premises; the concern is that some measures for CCTV are
expensive and potentially become a disincentive to use, thus
premises holders may revert back to measures that impact on
other licensing objectives, especially Protecting Children from
Harm. The Forum therefore wishes to know how the Board would intend
to ensure this circular is effectively resolved in conjunction with
police and/or LLF to ensure decisions can be balanced across the
relevant licensing objectives.
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Protecting Children from
Harm
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(a)
The Forum asked that the title of paragraph 28 be
amended to include “Vulnerable Groups” – rejected
by the Board as the licensing objective is statutorily based and
cannot be changed.
(b)
The Forum asked for further amendments in relation
to the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 –
Board response that this cannot be included in this paragraph and
asks why this should be included in the policy and in relation
...
view the full minutes text for item 4.
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