Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were intimated by David Greenwell, ADAT, Brian Kupris, Community Representative; Calum MacLachlainn, Licence Trade; and Superintendent Raymond Park, Strathclyde Police.

There were no declarations of interest.

Local Licensing Forum 22 April 2008

The note of the meeting of the Local Licensing Forum held on 22 April 2008 was approved as a correct record.

The Forum agreed that this item be continued to the next meeting.

The Forum agreed that this item be continued to the next meeting.

Resulting from earlier discussion Susan enquired as to when the Forum would like to arrange a meeting with the Licensing Board.  Charles advised that this meeting would need to take place in August due to a recess in July.  The Forum agreed that Susan and Charles would arrange a date in late August in consultation with Councillor Danny Kelly (now confirmed as 28 August 2008).

 Charles advised that the purpose of the discussion with Communications was to find the best way to get the message of the Forum’s work across to the public.  Aileen MacLennan of Communications advised that she would be more than happy to do press releases. She advised that someone would need to volunteer from the Forum to be a contact person and that they would require to complete a press release request form.  She advised that the local paper were usually very good at printing the Councils’ press releases but if the school representatives were to prepare one this would almost guarantee that it would be printed and may also encourage younger people to read it.  She advised that any press release would go onto the Council website along with a link to the national site.   The Forum agreed that the initial release would be to inform the public that the Forum exists with information about the work that it does with a quote from the Chair to be included.  This would be followed shortly after with coverage of what happens at the Forums meeting with the Licensing Board and thereafter press releases with focuses on various themes. The Forum agreed that Legal and Protective Services would be the contact in connection with press releases. 

John MacFarlane, National Licensing Officer gave an informative presentation to the Forum on the roles of various posts and organisations in Licensing.  This included the roles of the National Licensing Officer, the Licensing Forum, the Licensing Boards and the Role of the Council.

The Forum were given the opportunity to pose questions to John about his presentation and to have a general discussion.

Charles asked how other Licensing Boards/Forums have come together in other areas. John advised that the best two Forums he had seen were East Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire and advised East Renfrewshire have a 22 year old convener who was fantastic at conducting the Forum meetings. John suggested having interaction with the Licensing Board and to have a meeting to identify and discuss the main problems within the area, how they can be addressed and what the role of the Forum should be rather than just listing what needs to be addressed by the Board.

Susan enquired as to whether the Forum would be interested in receiving information on the types of applications that are going to the Board for approval even although the Forum cannot comment on individual applications and this was agreed.  She advised that the Board would need to meet on a monthly basis to deal with applications until the new system is introduced and suggested that it would be a good idea to have informal meeting to get to know Board as soon as possible.  The Forum agreed unanimously.

J Russell Buchanan advised that it would be useful to have information on the type of applications and what area they are coming from to allow the Forum to monitor them.  Susan suggested providing a breakdown of types of licenses such as hotel, off licenses and restaurant as Argyll and Bute currently have a lot of licensed premises for the population.  She advised that a lot of these are small premises and commented that a lot of the businesses are not applying due to the increased cost through the new system which in turn she envisaged would have an economic impact on the area.  Eric Box suggested that this problem be looked at by the Board and this was agreed.  John advised that other areas had gone straight to the Minister.  He further advised that there was an open document available on the Scottish Government Website to tackle drinking culture.   He advised that there was also a web based Good Practice Guide available which gives ideas on running a Forum, what could be done by a Forum and the role of a Forum.  He advised that a national template would soon be available giving more ideas after consultation with local authorities.

Kenneth Harrison asked if it would be possible to have access to information on the distribution of current licences in the area to give a starting point.

Susan advised that there were roughly 600 in the area which included licensed clubs.  She advised that she had planned to give information on how many Argyll and Bute have in each category under the 1976 Act.  Kenneth Harrison then asked if the information could be given geographically and Susan informed him that the information could be split into the 4 council areas but if specific information was requested in addition this could be given.

Eric Box advised that he would like to discuss with Susan and the Police what statistics they currently collect  in order to decide what statistics would be of use to the Forum and if any criminality could be connected to licensed premises.  Charles Reppke advised that there could be difficulties in identifying how criminality is connected to specific licensed premises.  He advised that the 4 Area Committees had been asked to look at the boundaries of the current prohibition on drinking in public places Bye Laws and that a report would be going to the Executive in August.  He advised that the report could be made available to the Forum.

Fred Bruce asked Susan what was happening with LSO posts and what happened currently with inspecting licensed premises.  Susan informed him that currently premises were inspected by Environmental Health. She advised that the LSOs Posts were caught up in the Best Value Review.  She advised that they were currently reviewing the 3 elements of the Service – licensing, environmental health and trading standards.  Susan advised that she had been pushing to have the posts taken through the Council’s evaluation process and hopefully posts would be advertised in the next couple of months.  John advised that the role of the LSO is vital to the Forum as they  support the work of the Forum and update them on what has been happening in the area. 

John asked whether the Forum met before the Board. Susan replied that they didn’t as the Board had agreed a series of meetings until January to deal with applications under the old system.  John added that it would be good practice to arrange Forum meetings before Board meetings as any issues could be referred to the Board and  The Forum agreed that this was a good idea.

The Forum then agreed that they would like to have a joint meeting with the Board in which John would attend to steer the two groups forward in the correct direction.

Charles asked Cath Cakebread if she would like to add any ideas on material which could be discussed at this event.  Cath suggested statistical information such as alcohol related hospital admissions and similar figures and it was noted that this would give a good focus for both groups as it was a shared interest.  The Forum then had a lengthy discussion on alcohol misuse and drinking culture in Scotland and the ways in which this problem could be tackled.  Aileen and Thomas were asked to give a young persons view on the best ways to give the message to young people on sensible drinking to which  they replied that shocking images have the best impact, they advised that books  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The forum agreed that this had already been discussed under the previous item.

Charles advised that the 2008 National Licensing Conference would be held in Aviemore  and advised that the Chair would be attending.  The enrolment form had been completed and was still to be sent off.  It was noted that the Chair would report back to the Forum at a future meeting.

The Forum noted the In Focus Newsletter.

The Forum noted that Catherine Dobbie would be attending the Choose Life Conference and will report back to the Forum.

Charles advised that Aileen and Thomas had been invited to attend the meeting with a view to appointing one of them to the Forum.  Aileen advised that she would be going on holiday and would not be available for the October meeting. The Forum agreed that as both of them had made good representation at the meeting that they would both to be invited to attend future meetings, with one representative and one observer.

The Forum agreed the date of the next meeting as 9 October 2008.

In connection with a future programme of meetings Charles suggested that this be done after meeting with the Licensing Board in August and after working out a work programme at the October meeting.  This was agreed.