Agenda and minutes

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded)

(*In accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2, written notice of an appeal must be received by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting)

There were no appeals against the refusal of inspection of documents.

The agenda contained no exempt information.

No late items of business were added to the agenda.

To disclose or draw attention to any interests in accordance with Leeds City Council’s ‘Councillor Code of Conduct’.

No declarations of interest were made.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Farley and Hutchison.

To approve the minutes of the last meeting held on 6^th September 2022.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the previous meeting held 6^th September 2022 be agreed as a correct record.

To consider the report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory which presents the Statement of Licensing Policy, which has been reviewed with partners and taken to a public consultation. Additionally the Authority has undertaken consultation on the Cumulative Impact Assessment and the report seeks approval of both the revised Statement of Licensing Policy 2023-2027, and Cumulative Impact Assessment 2023-2025 and approval to refer the Statement of Licensing Policy to Council for adoption

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory which presented the Statement of Licensing Policy 2023-2027 and the Cumulative Impact Assessment 2023-2025. The report included a copy of the revised Statement of Licensing Policy at Appendix 1, with a copy of the revised Cumulative Impact Assessment attached as Appendix 2.

The Section Head, Entertainment Licensing introduced the report and highlighted the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003 which require the Licensing Authority (LA) to review its Statement of Licensing Policy every five years and any Cumulative Impact Assessments (CIA) every three years. Both documents had been reviewed with partners and taken through extensive consultation with Leeds MPs, all Councillors, community representatives, multi-agency partners, licensing trade representatives, and those premises in the cumulative impact areas.

A representation to the consultation from Councillor Cunningham, Armley ward, requested an extension of the existing Armley CIA to include the top end of Armley Town Street. Further work to collect data to evidence the need to extend the boundary would commence in the New Year, as although it was recognised that there were issues in that area, these were unreported and some of the work would be around how to encourage reporting issues/incidents to West Yorkshire Police which would provide an evidence base for future consideration.

The following matters were highlighted:

City Centre – The CIA boundary remains unchanged and data on the post pandemic recovery of the area will continue to be monitored. 

Headingley – The scope of the CIA remains unchanged however the boundary has been extended to encompass three licensed premises within the Weetwood ward as part of the “Otley Run”.

Holbeck – This new CIA covers a dense residential area which has seen a growth in off-licences, alcohol harms and on-street drinking. Premise Licence applicants for off-sales at any time can anticipate receiving representations.

During discussions the following matters were considered:

The impact of the Headingley CIA on existing and new businesses. Members were assured that the CIA did not prevent new businesses opening in Headingley or prevent applications for licensable activities, but allowed consideration of the nature of the business, whether it would impact negatively on the licensing objectives or add to problems experienced in Headingley.

The changing demographic of the Otley Run and the impact on locality. It was noted that historically the city’s student population had been the largest group of participants, but recently older working professionals, stag/hen parties and male-only groups had participated. People arrived by private coach earlier in the day, often having consumed alcohol already and continued drinking throughout the day and into the night. This in turn led to reports of anti-social behaviour through the day which prevented some local residents from visiting the town centre. The Committee heard of the work being done by the Entertainment Licensing Team with licensed premises to encourage and advise patrons on responsible behaviour. In response to a query regarding the process to secure an extension to the Public Spaces Protection Order  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

To consider the report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory which supports discussions on the document “10 questions to ask if you are scrutinising gambling harm” published by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny, in conjunction with the Gambling Commission. Scrutiny Board (Environment, Housing and Communities) has requested a response to the document from the Licensing Authority and the report presents a briefing note which collates all of the current work being undertaken across the council on this matter.

The Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory submitted a report to support discussions on the document “10 questions to ask if you are scrutinising gambling harm” published by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny, in conjunction with the Gambling Commission.

The report outlined a request from the Scrutiny Board (Environment, Housing and Communities) for information on how Leeds City Council (LCC) approaches gambling harm in the city, based on the ten questions. A briefing note which collated all of the current work being undertaken across the Financial Inclusion, Public Health and Entertainment Licensing Teams within the council on this issue was included within the report for the Committee’s consideration.

The following were in attendance for this item:

-  Nicola Raper – Section Head, Entertainment Licensing

-  Grace Lawrenson - Senior Policy Development Officer, Financial Inclusion Team, Communities, Housing & Environment

-  Jo Rowlands - Financial Inclusion Manager, Communities, Housing & Environment.

Members noted apologies from Myrte Elbers, Advanced Health Improvement Specialist, Healthy Living & Health Improvement Team (Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco and Gambling) Adults & Health.

The Section Head, Entertainment Licensing, presented the report and highlighted that as part of the application process to award a Large Casino premises licence in Leeds, the successful applicant offered a range of measures to reduce the risk of harm from gambling, one of which was to provide an annual sum of money to LCC Social Inclusion Fund. A proportion of the Fund is used on projects to address any negative impacts which may arise from the Large Casino, including mitigating gambling harms, additionally funding had been used in 2016 to commission Leeds Beckett University research to establish a baseline of gambling harm in the area before the casino opened.

In respect of the ten questions posed, the following were highlighted:

Question 4: How does the council, and its partners, raise awareness of gambling harm in the community? Following on from the research undertaken in 2016 the Financial Inclusion and Public Health teams established the Leeds Gambling Harms Group to consider how best to implement change to mitigate gambling harms. The group includes officers from all relevant part of the council, external partners including Citizens Advice, GamCare, and the city’s universities.

Question 5: How does the council tackle gambling harm through its licensing policy? The Licensing Authority has responsibility for the grant of Gambling Premises Licences and the Leeds Statement of Gambling Policy now includes harm mitigation measures, and applicants must undertake a local area risk assessment as part of their application submission. All Leeds postcodes are included in a mapping tool devised to identify the cumulative impact of gambling premises, anti-social behaviour and vulnerable adults and children to support the Authority’s consideration of applications.

The Senior Policy Development Officer, Financial Inclusion Team, provided an overview of the projects undertaken in conjunction with Public Health, building on the 2016 research which identified Leeds as being likely to have problem gambling rates at double the national average research and sought to identify groups considered vulnerable to or at higher risk of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Tuesday 24^th January 2023 at 10.00 am

RESOLVED - Tuesday 24th January 2023 at 10.00 am