Under the Licensing Act 2003, Officers are required to report on the numbers of applications received and the determinations of those applications.
Premises Licence Applications/Variations:
Applications received: 47
Applications granted under delegated authority by Officers: 38
Applications considered by Sub-Committee: 9
Applications granted (subject to conditions): 9
Applications refused: 0
Appeals to Magistrates Court: 2
Personal Licence Applications:
Applications received: 84
Applications granted under delegated authority by Officers: 84
Applications for variation considered by Sub-Committee: 0
Applications refused: 0
Appeals to Magistrates Court: 0
Minutes:
The Environmental Health Manager presented a report to the Committee that detailed the number of applications received and the determination of those applications, as required by the Licensing Act 2003, since the previous meeting of the Licensing Committee on 19 October 2005. There had been 84 Personal Licence applications received by the Council, which had all been dealt with under delegated authority by officers. None of these applications had been refused and consequently there had been no appeals to the Magistrates Court. There had also been 47 Premises Licence applications or variations received by the Council, of which 38 had been dealt with under delegated powers by officers. The Sub-Committees had considered the remaining 9 applications, all of which were granted. However there had been 2 further appeals to the Magistrates Court following the decision of the Sub-Committee: for Ye Olde Kings Head in Chigwell, the decision of the Sub-Committee had been upheld; but for the Last Post in Loughton, the Court had granted the hours requested by the premises. No costs had been requested or awarded as the Sub-Committee were exercising its powers as a Local Authority.
The Chairman commented that it reflected well on the work of the Sub-Committees that the Council had lost only one case on appeal. The Chairman reminded the Committee that when this case was originally heard there had been no formal objections, but that residents had complained after the case had been heard. There were also planning restrictions which had prevented the applicant from utilising the opening hours granted by the Court; a planning application had been lodged but this had been refused. It had not gone unnoticed that the obligatory public notice had been placed in editions of the local newspaper that were not distributed in the Loughton area. It was commented that a similar situation had arisen with the application lodged by the Chicken and Pizza take-away in Borders Lane, Loughton, which perhaps necessitated better consultation with the Planning Authority, and that The King’s Oak Hotel had also advertised in periodicals that were not available in High Beach, which had resulted in residents being unaware of the public notification.
The Environmental Health Manager responded that the Licensing Act 2003 specifically stated that an application for a licence could not be refused on the grounds that planning permission was also required; one should not influence the other. The Committee were reminded that the Planning Authority automatically received copies of each application, but that Planning Officers could only comment on planning issues, and not whether planning consent would be granted. The Chairman added that, in respect of public notification, the Council could not insist upon any additional requirements to the statutory notification procedures, although a system more akin to that currently utilised by planning applications would be preferable. The Environmental Health Manager stated that a consultation exercise would be conducted over the new arrangements, and that this issue could be raised then, however, if the Council did not follow the procedure set out in the Licensing Act 2003 then the applicant could instantly appeal to the Magistrates Court. The Chairman requested that the Licensing Committee be involved in the response to the consultation.
RESOLVED:
That the report to the Licensing Committee on the current situation in respect of applications under the Licensing Act 2003 be noted.