To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bowden and Luxton. Councillors Sharpe and Hunt acted as substitutes.

To receive any declarations of interest.

For transparency Councillor Bhangra informed all that he held a TfL private hire licence and was a SIA close protection officer.

Councillor Brar informed all that she was an RBWM licence holder.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 12 October 2021.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: that the minutes of the last meeting held on 12 October 2021 were a true and accurate record.

To note the minutes of the Sub-Committees held on 30 September 2021, 17 March 2022 and 28 March 2022.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: that the minutes of all the Licensing and Public Space Protection Order Sub Committees were noted by the Panel.

To receive the above report.

The Panel considered the written report on Dealing with the Night Time Economy.

Greg Nelson, RBWM Trading Standards and Licensing Manager introduced the report to the Panel and stated that there were several optional statutory provisions that the Council could adopt to help deal with the night time economy. This included both pros and cons of each.

Greg Nelson introduced the first option to the Panel; this was a Late-Night Levy. He said that the levy would enable licensing authorities to raise a contribution from late-opening premises licenced to supply alcohol towards policing the night time economy. It would cover the whole of the licensing authority’s area. However, the licensing authority would choose the period during which the levy applied (it would be between 00.00 and 06.00) and decide what exemptions and reductions should apply from a list set out in regulations.

Greg Nelson added that if a licensing authority chose to introduce the levy in their area, all licenced premises which were authorised to supply alcohol in the levy period would be affected, whether or not they actually open during the levy period. He added that premises that did not wish to operate in the levy period would be able to make a free minor variation to their licence before the levy was introduced to change their hours, and so take them out of the period covered by the levy.

Greg Nelson said that the levy amount was set at a national level and also that some venues would be exempt from this, and these were:

·       Premises with overnight accommodation

·       Theatres and cinemas

·       Bingo halls

·       Community Amateur Sports Clubs

·       Community premises

·       Country village pubs

·       Business Improvement Districts (‘BIDs’)

Greg Nelson said that work was currently being done on estimating the amount of money that a levy would raise in RBWM, depending on the hours during which the levy would apply. For example, the levy could be set to apply to all premises open between 00.00 and 06.00, but this might be unfair to those located away from, and therefore not part of the problems caused by, the night time economy (NTE). The levy could therefore be set later, for example from 02.00 to 06.00, but this would reduce the number of premises to which it applied and so would reduce the amount of money raised.

Greg Nelson said that the police must receive at least 70% of the net levy revenue and the licensing authority could retain up to 30% of the net levy revenue to fund other activities besides policing. However, there were restrictions on the types of services that licensing authorities could fund with the levy revenue to ensure that levy is spent on tackling alcohol-related crime and disorder and services connected to the management of the NTE.

Greg Nelson admitted that an obvious drawback to a levy being introduced was that it would apply to all licensed premises, even if they were not open at these times. He also admitted that wider research was to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 108.

Dates of future meetings:

·       5 July 2022

·       25 October 2022

·       13 February 2023

·       4 April 2023

Members noted that the next meeting of the Licensing Panel would be 5 July 2022.