Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Kenneth McGeough, Miriam Smith, Emily Queen, Nicola Johnston and Heather Wilson.

There were further unexplained absences, taking account of which the meeting was found to be inquorate in terms of its constitution.

Postponed to next meeting.

N/A

The Forum welcomed Lorcan O’Connor, a member of the public who had expressed an interest in the Forum and had attended the meeting to see what it was about.

Following a comprehensive period of consultation, the new Statement of Licensing Policy was ratified by the Licensing Board on 8 November 2018.  The Local Licensing Forum is invited to discuss the document and its potential impact.

The members of the Forum who were present held a discussion with regard to the new Statement of Licensing Policy.  The Forum welcomed the new policy and agreed that the document was much easier to digest than the one it replaced.

The only issue to come forth was with regard to the paragraphs which appeared in the sections on Preventing Public Nuisance and Protecting and Improving Public Health, suggesting that Licensing alone could not address all the relevant social challenges and that a partnership approach was the preferred route.  Some members of the Forum felt that this principle should apply across the entire policy and that it might better be explained in an overarching statement at the beginning of the document, perhaps during the foreword.

Jenny Wilson confirmed that the Convener of the Licensing Board had agreed to accept the Local Licensing Forum as a standing item on the agenda for that body.  The Forum Members welcomed this and looked forward to a much closer working relationship with the Board than had existed hitherto.

Postponed to next meeting.

Postponed to next meeting.

Sarah said that the various Unight premises were now preparing for Christmas.

She advised that 25 Unight members had recently undertaken ‘Safe Talking’ training which deals with suicide prevention.  The next scheduled training for Unight members was counter terrorism training in the new year.

Shamini advised that a Strategic Plan Review was currently being undertaken and that a link would be shared with members via the clerk.

She advised that Adult Social Care and Primary Care had come together.

Finally, Shamini advised that a couple of resources had been produced by Glasgow and Stirling Universities relating to studies on how alcohol affects males and females differently.

Postponed to next meeting.

There was no other competent business.

The next meeting of the Local Licensing Forum will take place on Thursday 31 January 2019, in Committee Room no.5 of Aberdeen Town House, commencing at 2pm.

The date of the next meeting was noted as the 31^st January 2019.