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Lewes and Eastbourne
Councils

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Court Room at Eastbourne Town Hall, Grove Road, BN21 4UG

Contact: Committee Services on 01323 410000 

Items
No. Item

10.

Minutes of the meeting held on 8 January 2018 pdf icon PDF 54 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 January 2018 were submitted and approved and the Chair was authorised to sign them as an accurate record.

11.

Apologies for absence.

Minutes:

An apology for absence was reported from Councillor Robinson.  Absence was noted for Councillor Murray.

12.

Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPIs) by members as required under Section 31 of the Localism Act and of other interests as required by the Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

There were none.

13.

Questions by members of the public.

On matters not already included on the agenda and for which prior written notice has been given (total time allowed 15 minutes).

 

Minutes:

There were none.

14.

Urgent items of business.

The Chairman to notify the Committee of any items of urgent business to be added to the agenda.

 

Minutes:

There were none.

15.

Right to address the meeting/order of business.

The Chairman to report any requests received to address the Committee from a member of the public or from a Councillor in respect of an item listed below and to invite the Committee to consider taking such items at the commencement of the meeting.

Minutes:

There were none.

16.

Review of Eastbourne Borough Council's Statement of Licensing Policy including the Cumulative Impact Policy, Licensing Act 2003 pdf icon PDF 88 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Functional Lead – Quality Environment to review the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy and Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIP) and authorise the Senior Specialist Advisor to start an eight week consultation of the proposed new Statement of Licensing Policy including the Cumulative Impact Assessment.

In accordance with Section 182 guidance, Section 5, the Licensing Committee was required to prepare and publish a statement of its licensing policy at least every five years and regularly review the Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIP). 

The effect of adopting the Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIP) within the Statement of Licensing Policy was to create a “rebuttable presumption” that applications for new premises licenses, club premises certificates or material variations would be refused unless the applicant could demonstrate that the operation of the premises would not add to the negative cumulative impact already experienced in the area.  Further details were contained in the report.

Inspector Rachel Barrow, Sussex Police, addressed the Committee and made reference to her representation appended to the report, stating that Sussex Police were in full support of keeping the Cumulative Impact within the Statement of Licensing Policy.

In response to a question from the Committee asking if there had been any change in the data since the last review, Inspector Barrow confirmed that there had been an increase in drugs and violent crime and although most incidents had occurred in the town centre, not all were associated with licensed premises. 

The Committee asked if enough had been done by the Authority in regard to enforcement action and council policies, and whether there was anything further that could be done to assist the Police.  In response, Inspector Barrow said that priority was given to this area of work and they were recruiting front line officers and working in partnership with other agencies such as the Night Watch Scheme. 

 

Councillor Wallis proposed a motion to accept the proposal.  This was seconded by Councillor Freebody.

 

RESOLVED: (Unanimous) that:

(1) The Committee agrees the contents of the draft policy and assessment and authorise the Senior Specialist Advisor to start an 8 week consultation on the revised Policy and Assessment.

(2) That a further report is presented to the Committee following the results of the consultation with a final Policy to be agreed and recommended to Full Council unless there are only minor amendments and these can be made by the Functional Lead in consultation with the Chair before Full Council.