Agenda item - Member Involvement

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Agenda item

Member Involvement

To consider the following matters raised by councillors:

 

(a)      Petitions: to receive any petitions submitted to the full Council or at the meeting itself;

(b)      Written Questions: to consider any written questions – Letter received from Councillor Sykes relating to Temporary Event Notices (TEN’S) (copy attached);

(c)      Letters: to consider any letters;

(d)      Notices of Motion: to consider any Notices of Motion referred from Council or submitted directly to the Committee.

Minutes:

5a        Petitions

 

5.1       There were none

 

5b       Written Questions

 

5.2       A written question had been received from Councillor Sykes who was in attendance at the meeting and was invited to put his question which is set out below:

 

            “Dear Chair of Licensing Committee

            I wish to raise concerns about the awarding and management of Temporary Event Notices (TENs) by our Council.

I understand that a TEN allowing the pursuit of licensable activities including sale of alcohol can be awarded, following application, to individuals and /or premises and that only Licensing Police and Environmental Health and Licensing are able to object to applications.

My ward sees a considerable number of TENs and the bulk of these cause few problems.

Where there have been problems, it is my understanding that complaints and reports from the public of issues arising as a result of such an event are taken into consideration should the applicant apply for a future TEN. That future TEN may then not be awarded if the issues and complaints are not felt to have been addressed.

My concern relates to the use of the TEN process to allow sale of alcohol at street parties. There has been a series of street parties in my ward promoted by businesses rather than local residents, and each has resulted in a significant volume of complaints to ward councillors. Despite evidence of previous complaints, repeat TEN applications have been allowed by the council. Residents have approached us as ward councillors complaining that the TEN process is not fit for purpose and ignores basic safeguards.

Please could you clarify the interaction between the TEN regime and that for highways closures for street parties? Could you also clarify the extent to which complaints about prior street parties are taken into consideration in subsequent TEN applications and what the threshold for TEN rejection is?”

 

5.2       The Chair, Councillor O’Quinn, thanked Councillor Sykes for notification of his question and responded in the following terms:

 

           The Licensing Authority are notified of a TEN; it’s a notification rather than an application. It’s an important distinction as the Licensing Authority has no discretion but to acknowledge the notification and issue a TEN unless the Police or Environmental Health object and then a Hearing is arranged to determine whether to issue a TEN or a counter notice

 

Your understanding in relation to the issue of future TEN’s if there have been problems in the past is Correct, e.g. the Robin Hood street party in May 2016 resulted in complaints post the event. We were notified of a further street party in August (Pride 2016). Both Highways and Environmental Health sought assurances from the organiser re security, managing numbers and noise. The street party went ahead in August 2017 and no complaints were received.

 

An application for a street party is submitted to Highways. As part of the application, questions are asked about the need for a TEN (pub or private bar), promotion and signage/barriers, etc. Advice is given including noise, fire safety, food safety, general safety etc. There is certain criteria that has to be met before a road closure is allowed including submitting a petition that must be signed by 60% of frontages to agree the street party, Highways will assess the traffic management layout taking into account road works and traffic flow. Highways and Licensing will liaise for any Road Closure application/TEN where it involves a street party.

Highways close the road where an event is organised under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847. This can be applied for either by an individual or a business. Highways process the closure for both situations in a similar manner. The reasons for Highways doing so are primarily for safety. The closure of the road would not occur unless the event had already been planned. The difference between the application by a business is currently the charge, Highways don't charge for "community" Street Parties under this legislation.

 

Highways will be reviewing their policy for commercial events as the legislation that is probably a better fit is the Road Traffic Regulation Act section 16A which deals with Events on the public highway. These events should then require additional scrutiny from their events team, giving greater control over the planning and execution of the event.

 

Highways will be reviewing their team policy over the autumn with a view to having it in place for the new year so they can apply it appropriately to the applications that come in during the year.

 

Complaints are taken into account about previous street parties. It is a requirement of the law that regardless of whether the perpetrator is residential (noisy neighbour) or a commercial premises (e.g. pub or club), for environmental health to independently establish the severity of a nuisance according to the character, duration and frequency of a noise and assess how much the noise is disturbing someone in their home. This process is not straight forward when applied to “one off” events such as a street party but the Environmental Protection Team will closely assess any future TENs applications and their potential for noise disturbance.  They will discuss the proposals with the event organiser and may ask for additional controls and management steps to be agreed prior to the TEN.  If they are satisfied that a temporary event is going to cause noise problems they will object to the TEN and it will go before a licensing panel to be determined. Two examples of this are; a street party in Pool Valley 2016 that caused noise issues; a noise abatement notice was served and subsequent TENs objected to (TENs withdrawn), and the Robin Hood case mentioned above where both Highways and Environmental Health worked with the organiser and no complaints were received at the following street party.

It is worth noting that since April 2015 the Government has deregulated regulated entertainment, e.g. live and recorded music, in licensed premises and work places between 8am – 11pm for up to 500 people so no licence, TEN or premises licence, is required. However, whether an authorisation is required or not, the premises cannot cause a noise nuisance.”

 

5.3       RESOLVED – That the contents of the question and the Chair’s response to it be received and noted.

 

5c        Letters

 

5.4       There were none.

 

5d       Deputations

 

5.5       There were none.

Supporting documents:

 


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