Agenda and minutes

Minute of meeting of the Local Licensing Forum of 23 January 2018 to be approved (copy attached).

WELCOME

The meeting was chaired by Mr Mark Hay.  He introduced Mags Clark who he had brought along to observe the meeting.  Mags had recently been appointed as Executive Director to the Border Union Agricultural Society at Springwood Park, Kelso.

QUORUM

The Democratic Services Officer explained that, due to the low number of members in attendance, the meeting was technically inquorate and should be run as an informal meeting.<AI1>

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the meeting held on 23 January 2017.

2.1       With reference to paragraph 4 of the Minute, Mr Tunnah confirmed that presentations on the ‘don’t buy it, don’t supply it’ campaign and the ‘who are you’ programme would be taken to a future meeting of the Licensing Board.

2.2       With reference to paragraph 6 of the Minute, Mr Tunnah advised that to date there had been no applications in response to the campaign to recruit new members to the Licensing Forum.  In the discussion that followed, it was suggested that a press release be issued to draw attention to the campaign and that efforts be made in particular to encourage one or two younger people to become involved.

Update by Licensing Standards Officer

With reference to paragraph 7 of the Minute, Mr Tunnah advised that the Licensing Board working group were currently holding meetings to discuss and formulate the draft policy statement.  This initial draft would be considered informally by the full Licensing Board following the meeting on 23 March 2018.  The final proposal would then be taken back to the Licensing Board for approval to go out for consultation. Comments from the Licensing Forum’s working group had been fed into the consideration and the statement as a whole had been significantly reduced by several pages following the removal of content considered unnecessary. The revised policy statement would be subject to a six month consultation period. Mr Tunnah confirmed that he would suggest to the Licensing Board that a training session on the final revised policy statement be held as part of the joint Licensing Board/Forum meeting in December 2018.

Update

Prior to the meeting, Ms Elliot had circulated to members of the Forum a final draft of the Alcohol Profile which included the infographic summary. She asked for any comments to be sent to her by Friday 23 March 2018, following which the final version would be published.

·         Common Riding Events

·         Rugby 7s Events

·         Refresher Training

·         Minimum Unit Pricing

5.1       Common Riding and Rugby 7s events

Licensing Standards Officers had attended a recent meeting of the Common Riding Association and were working closely with organising committees to encourage committees to take ownership and responsibility for their events for their duration, particularly in respect of the management of alcohol consumption and behaviour of those in attendance.  Also, in the lead up to the Rugby 7s, Licensing Standards Officers were visiting premises to encourage responsibility.  The ‘don’t buy it – don’t supply it’ campaign, organised by the Safer Communities Team, was being directed in particular at the Rugby 7s and the Common Riding festivals.  A supply of posters was being organised in addition to targeted placement of banners to promote the campaign.

5.2       Refresher Training

Mr Tunnah advised that towards the end of next year the 5 year personal license holder refresher training cycle would begin again.  Reminders to attend would start to be issued early next year giving 9 months’ notice of due dates.

5.3       Minimum Unit Pricing

Mr Tunnah referred to Minimum Unit Pricing which would come into effect on 1 May 2018.  Enforcement of the new regulations would be the responsibility of Licensing Standards Officers. Suppliers should give advice to premises holders about pricing, with off trade premises likely to be the most affected.  There followed a discussion about the probability of the public visiting supermarkets over the Border to take advantage of lower alcohol prices.  It was accepted that this already takes place to some extent.

5.4       Other matters

In the absence of PC Ray, Mr Tunnah passed on the information that test purchasing was likely to be started again; this now being a Community Police initiative. 

Copy of minute of 19 January 2018 attached.

There had been circulated, for information, copies of the Scottish Borders Licensing Board Minute of 19 January 2018.  The February meeting of the Board had been cancelled.

12 June 2018

Arrangements for the next meeting, on 12 June 2018, were discussed.

Before proceeding with the private business, the following motion should be approved:-

“That under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 7A to the aforementioned Act”.

            Private Business

AGREED under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the business detailed in the Appendix to this Minute on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 7A to the Act.

Private minute of meeting of the Local Licensing Forum of 23 January 2018 to be approved (copy attached).

There had been circulated copies of the Private Minute of the meeting held on 23 January 2017.