Issue - meetings

Actions required prior to expiry of Whalley Cumulative Impact Assessment on 30 April 2022

Meeting: 15/06/2021 - Licensing (Item 72)

72 Expiry of Whalley Cumulative Impact Assessment pdf icon PDF 138 KB

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed

Minutes:

The Chief Executive submitted a report informing the Committee of the expiry of the Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) in respect of the Whalley and Painter Ward on 30 April 2022 and seeking Committee’s approval for a review of the CIA.

 

Members were reminded that:

·         Concerns were raised by Whalley residents on the impact the night-time economy had on the residential amenity, particularly in relation to the licensing objectives of prevention of public nuisance and prevention of crime and disorder.

·         Due to the concerns, a preliminary survey of residents, businesses and other affected parties was conducted over the Spring of 2018, with 194 responses being received. The Council therefore embarked on a formal consultation process to create an evidence base. Only one response was received to the formal consultation and the Police made no representations.

·         Following consideration of the evidence base and the outcome of the consultation, and recommendations by this Committee, Council approved the current CIA on 30 April 2019.

·         Since the CIA has been in place only one location has applied for a new licence and subsequently varied it by extension of hours, and as no representations were received, the CIA was not engaged.  Two further applications had been received where representation had been submitted but, on each occasion, the sub-committee was content with the steps taken to promote the licensing objectives and the applications had been granted subject to conditions.

The report noted that:

·         Although a CIA forms part of the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy, due to the somewhat exceptional nature of a CIA, it is only effective for 3 years. At that time, the Council being the Licensing Authority must review whether a CIA is still required.

·         In the unusual circumstances over the last 15 months, the night-time economy has been very quiet, and very few, if any issues have been reported.  As a consequence, a number of Licensing Authorities at the time of review of their Statement of Licensing Policy, had dispensed with CIAs.

·         In order to continue the CIA, a Licensing Authority needs to have evidence of the impact upon the licensing objectives such as local crime and disorder statistics, including statistics on specific types of crime and crime hotspots.

 

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE

 

1.    Authorise the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to make enquiries of the responsible authorities to assess whether there is sufficient evidence to support a cumulative impact policy for the Whalley Ward and the area to which any policy would relate.

 

2.    Authorise officers to consult informally with licensees in the Whalley Ward, the Parish Council and community groups.

 

3.    Authorise officers to report back to this Committee with recommendations based on the responses received.