Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were intimated by J Russell Buchanan, David Greenwell, Kenneth Harrison and George Ross.

None.

Argyll and Bute Local Licensing Forum 9 April 2009

The Argyll and Bute Local Licensing Forum minutes of 9 April 2009 were approved as a correct record.

Susan advised that there had been one application from a Mid Argyll Resident in response to the adverts placed to recruit two persons to the Forum (one for Mid Argyll and the second for Helensburgh and Lomond).  She also advised that Steven Shaw’s letter of resignation had now been received taking the total number of vacancies to 3.

A discussion followed as to whether it was considered appropriate to specifically target persons to join the Forum or whether the net should be cast wider to attract those with a genuine interest in the work of the Forum.  It was agreed that there was a need to get the forum more into the public eye and suggested that the Press Officer of Argyll and Bute run an article on the new Licensing Standards Officer (once appointed) which could link to the need to recruit members to the Forum.

Decision

The Forum agreed:-

1.      That Susan make contact with the Press Office of Argyll and Bute Council regarding running an article on the appointment of the new LSO and that the Membership of the Forum be linked to this.

2.      That a letter be sent to Mrs Johnston advising of the current position and that her application would be considered in due course.

The Chair reported that the AFS had been in contact with him to advise that a new National Licensing Development Officer had been recruited and would commence their post on 29 June 2009.  He advised that their first task would be to improve the website and invited Members of the Forum to contact the AFS (either directly or through himself or Susan) with any suggestions they had to improve this.  He specifically requested that Thomas look at the site and report back his findings.

Susan advised the Forum that the advert had been placed to recruit a Licensing Standards Officer.  She reported that the closing date was next Friday (19 June 2009) and that she was confident there would be sufficient interest in the post.

Louise queried why the post had been advertised as a temporary position to which Susan advised that this was due to an ongoing internal review of service delivery.  It was hoped that eventually there would be resources to fund two LSO positions.

The Forum received an informative presentation from Luette on the role of ADP and how co-ordination of cross agency projects takes effect.  She highlighted the need for support services not only for those both directly affected but also for their families.

Following the presentation Susan questioned if Luette had a feel for how the service was working in Argyll and Bute.  Luette responded advising that some agencies had been reluctant at first but that there were good links with Social Work.  She advised there was still work to be done with Education in relation to reinforcement of the guidance role.

Superintendant Park commented that the Forum was the best venue for ADP to feed information onwards to the Board and advised that there had been exemplary work carried out between ADAT and the CPP in that the area they had been the first to align properly with CPP as set out within the Single Outcome Agreement.

The Chair asked whether services to young people were lacking?  Luette advised of the need to prove that services were necessary and that a pilot would be running shortly to gather statistics which it was hoped would assist this process.

The Chair thanked Luette for her presentation.

It was noted that this had previously been discussed at item 4(b) of this minute.

Susan reported that feedback from the Government was that they had felt they had done their duty in relation to advertising the new Act.  The Forum discussed this response and it was agreed that while there may be some implications, these were likely to be minimal and the general feeling of the Forum was that it was up to individual businesses to highlight the changes to their customers.

Susan advised that every premises required to have at least 1 personal licence in place prior to implementation of the Act in September.  She reported that as of 1^st June 2009 393 applications had been received from just under 500 premises.

The Government had recently contacted Clerks to establish uptake and that her feeling was that if figures from the other Clerks were in line with our own, there may be further publicity to highlight the requirement.

The Chair asked what the cut-off date for applications for personal licences was.    Susan advised that applications had been sought by mid July.

A discussion followed about the line the Board and Police should take in the event that licences were not in place.  The feeling was that if an application was in the pipeline then no action would be taken but if it was felt that there was no intent to apply then this should be actively pursued.  This was in accordance with information received from Superintendent Park in relation to the recent requirement to licence stewards.

Susan advised that the Board had approved just over 200 applications and that a further 260 were pending.

Superintendent Park spoke to the statistics provided to the Forum advising that the figures did not give rise to any concern.

Louise questioned the category “underage drinking” which it was noted covered underage drinking in licensed premises.

Susan queried whether the bottle marking pilot had been positive.  Superintendent Park advised that this had been an extremely useful project and advised of further projects such as the use of coloured bags to identify the retailer.

A discussion took place regarding the pressure on young persons to purchase alcohol and it was agreed from this that Superintendent Park would look into whether, as suggested by Louise, it was an offence for a person underage to attempt to purchase alcohol and that this would be reported back.

Susan advised that due to the pressure of the new licensing act it wouldn’t yet be appropriate to meet with the Licensing Board as the Boards priority was to get the licences processed.  She suggested that this workload would decrease following September and that this would be the appropriate time for a meeting to take place.

The Forum debated whether this was a matter they should give consideration to.  Having discussed the matter at length it was agreed that the market would dictate the environment within premises and providing this was at levels acceptable to Environmental Health Officers it should not give rise to concern.