There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 3^rd & 12^th September 2019 as an accurate record of the proceedings.

The minutes from the Licensing Committee meetings of 3^rd & 12^th September 2019 were agreed and approved to be an accurate record of the meeting.

Mr Vincent Fajilagmago, Licensing Officer, introduced the report and provided The Committee with an update on the progress of the Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) initiative together with an update on the Best Bar None (BBN) Scheme within the borough for 2018-2019. It was noted that both programmes seek to lower alcohol related crime and anti-social behaviour within the borough.

Mr Fajilagmago briefly went through the engagement and enforcement processes, and the successes to date which was detailed in the report. It was noted that all premises that were a part of the Best Bar None Scheme had a 100% pass rate for test purchases. It was recommended to extend the CAP area to include Bow West, Bow East, Bromley North and Bromley South allowing CAP strategies and solutions currently applied in the existing CAP areas to be extended to wards that face similar levels of crime and anti-social behaviour.  

There were no questions from The Committee.

The Chair moved and it was RESOLVED;

1.    The activity that has been undertaken by the Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) and Best Bar None scheme (BBN) was noted.

2.    The CAP area to include Bow West, Bow East, Bromley North and Bromley South was noted.

3.    To invest in publicity for the Best Bar None scheme to improve the reach of the scheme and improve the number of applicants and accreditations across the borough was noted.

4.    The Licensing Committee via the Democratic Services Officer would nominate a Member of the Committee to attend the Best Bar None Awards Ceremony to be held on the 13^th March 2020.

Mr Tom Lewis, Team Leader – Licensing, introduced the report which detailed late night inspections to licensed premises undertaken by the Environmental Health and Trading Standards Services. He explained that the objective was to carry out late night visits to premises where intelligence received alleged a contravention of the Licensing Act 2003.

It was noted that there were approximately 1,179 licensed premises within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. During inspection visits where non-compliance was witnessed and a breach of the Licensing Act 2003 was established, actions were taken including warning letters being sent, review applications made and where necessary court prosecutions filed.  

Mr Lewis referred Members to the appendices included in the report, which gave a detailed breakdown of the number of visits made in each ward and the relevant actions taken in 2018/19 and 2019/20 (to date).

In response to questions the following was noted;

-       That the number of inspection visits in each ward varied due to the number of licensed premises in each ward.  

-       Where premises had a history of non-compliance, follow up checks are made accordingly.

-       That licensing fines are relatively low.

-       It was agreed that the next report on enforcement activity would include a comparison with other local boroughs to see how many licensed premises they had, in contrast with the number of inspection visits conducted and the number of enforcement actions taken etc.

The Chair moved and it was RESOLVED;

1.    The activity that has been undertaken by the Environmental Health and Trading Standards Service with regards to regulating Late Night Licensed Premises be noted.

Ms Agnes Adrien, Head of Litigation briefly introduced the regular noting report which detailed licensing related prosecutions and appeals for Quarter 3 & 4 for 2018-2019 and Quarter 1 & 2 for 2019/2020.

The number of prosecutions over the quarters was noted and it was also noted that three appeals had been withdrawn, two had been granted, two had been agreed with consent and one case had discontinued.

Following a short discussion, Members expressed their disappointment at the two appeals that had been granted and thanked the Officers for providing  robust legal advice at Licensing Sub Committee meetings.

Members welcomed the report, and noted the results of the prosecution and appeals detailed in the report.

RESOLVED

That the report be noted.