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Agenda item

LICENSING POLICY AND CUMULATIVE IMPACT AREA (CIA) CONSULTATION REPORT

Report and appendices are attached.

Minutes:

5.              LICENSING POLICY AND CUMULATIVE IMPACT AREA (CIA) CONSULTATION REPORT

 

 

5.1          Mr Kerry Simpkin, Head of Licensing, Place and Investment addressed the Licensing committee and informed them that The Licensing Act 2003 (the Act) was amended in 2008 to make it a requirement to undertake a Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) if it has areas of the city that were believed to be under cumulative stress due to the number and concentration of licensed premises.  He advised the Licensing Committee that the licensing authority produced a CIA earlier this year based on data from a wide range of sources over a period of three years (2017-2019).  He added that the CIA was carried out prior to COVID-19.

 

5.2          Mr Simpkin advised the Licensing Committee that the Licensing Authority carried out consultation to statutory consultees and the wider public between the 12th October and 15th November 2020 on the authority’s intention to publish the CIA.  He informed the Licensing Committee that the consultation was run in parallel with the consultation on the Council’s proposed revisions to its Statement of Licensing Policy under the Act.  He added that a total of 166 responses were received to the consultation.  He informed the Licensing Committee that there was a mix of responses and that, although the questions posed in the consultation related to the CIA, the responses often related to the proposed policies associated with cumulative impact or as a result of the findings from the CIA. 

 

5.3          Mr Simpkin advised the Licensing Committee that no significant issues were identified during the consultation exercise that would require the Licensing Authority to amend the 2020 Cumulative Impact Assessment as produced.  He advised the Licensing Committee that it was proposed that the CIA should be published on the 1st December 2020.  Mr Simpkin informed the Licensing Committee that the Act required the Licensing Authority to undertake a review of the CIA within three years.  He added that it was anticipated that, due to the impact of COVID-19, and the recovery needed following the pandemic, potentially the Licensing Authority would need to undertake a review within the next 18 months. 

 

5.4          Mr Simpkin told the Licensing Committee thatthe current and proposed revision of the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy contained a Cumulative Impact Policy, which has a presumption to refuse certain applications within a designated cumulative impact zone.  The current cumulative impact zones are located within the West End, Queensway/Bayswater and Edgware Road.  He added that it is proposed under the new revised policy that both Edgware Road and Queensway/Bayswater zones would no longer be classified as a Cumulative Impact Zone. 

 

5.5          Mr Simpkin advised the Licensing Committee that Queensway/Bayswater and Edgware Road were found not to be under cumulative stress.  He informed them that the levels of incidents rates in these areas were higher than the borough average, but that the incidents could not be linked conclusively to licensed premises in order to demonstrate cumulative impact.  Mr Simpkin advised the Licensing Committee that it was recommended to note the responses to the consultation and agree to publish the 2020 Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) in accordance with Section 5A of the Licensing Act 2003 from Tuesday 1st December 2020.

 

5.6          Councillor Mitchell addressed the Licensing Committee and informed them that it was brought to his attention by the Chief Executive of the Saver Business Network that they had made a representation which is in paragraph three of the consultation responses.  He declared that he was the current chair of the Safer Business Network but that he did not participate in the drafting of the comments.  Councillor Mitchell noted the point that Mr Simpkins made that it was the intention to review the cumulative impact assessment within a shorter duration and he hoped that it would be shorter than the three-year review required by statute.  He advised that the same point was being made by the business networks, in that they would like to see a review after no later than one-year from now.

 

5.7          Councillor Glen addressed the Licensing Committee and sought further clarity on the report where it stated that Westminster suffers more incidents than in other London boroughs, in fact 10% of all incidents in London, despite being very small area.  He queried whether it was appropriate under the legislation to compare areas of Westminster with other areas of Westminster rather than London as a whole, when considering what should make up the cumulative impact area, and whether Westminster has a higher bar, which may be correct.

 

5.8          Responding to the queries raised, Mr Simpkin confirmed that the council is anticipating a review within 18 months.  He advised the Licensing Committee that the council’s approach was based on the city and how CIA affects different parts of the city.  He advised the Committee members that if they looked at comparing other local boroughs and where the bar is in terms of where it is felt cumulative impact occurs, he did not feel that the Westminster bar, particularly for the approach used to review the CIA in this case was much higher than other areas.  He stated that the team had looked at other CIAs, not just across London, but also across other major cities around the country.

 

5.9          Councillor Scarborough addressed the Licensing Committee and expressed her thanks to the officers for the hard work and the production of the extensive reports.  Councillor Burbridge addressed the Licensing Committee and also thanked officers for an excellent piece of work.  She raised queries regarding the current Queensway/Bayswater regeneration which had been ongoing for the last two years.  She felt that this had probably kept the numbers of incidents down and was unsure whether that had been taken into consideration.  Councillor Burbridge also advised the Licensing Committee that since this review started there had been changes to the planning legislation D class which will make it much easier for premises to become restaurants.  She queried whether the issue had been considered as it would be very relevant to Queensway.

 

5.10       Mr Simpkin advised the Licensing Committee that Queensway/Bayswater would be part of the special consideration zone.  He advised the Licensing Committee that the analysis for the CIA did not allow for more localised activity like  regeneration, it could only use the evidence base over a three-year data set period.  He added that the team was not able to go out for observational analysis, given COVID and so had no choice but to use the evidence before them.  He added that to maintain any sort of cumulative impact policy approach it was a requirement to produce a Community impact assessment.  Mr Simpkin added that therefore it could be important to undertake a further review of the CIA in the next year, subject to the recovery from COVID. He advised the Licensing Committee that the planning use class had not come into effect or had not gone through Parliament at the time of the analysis, so that was not a consideration.  However, that element, along with the issues associated with special consideration zones, would be addressed in the report to the Council.

 

5.11       Councillor Arzymanow thanked officers for the report.  It was useful to compare the wards, as it did put things into perspective and why some wards were not included as Cumulative Impact Zones.  She expressed that she would welcome a review in order to look at boundaries, and also as there were many gambling and sexual entertainment venues located in her ward.

 

5.10    RESOLVED: Unanimously (14 Votes). That the consultation responses are noted and approved to be published.

 

Supporting documents: