Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (adopted July 2012), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests , Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting. A DPI is defined in The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012 No. 1464) and Appendix 3 of the Council’s Code of Conduct.  A personal interest is defined in paragraph 2.8 of the Code and a prejudicial interest is defined in paragraph 2.9. In the interests of complete transparency, Members of the County Council, who are not also members of this committee, are encouraged to declare any interests they may have in any matters being discussed even though they may not be under any obligation to do so under any relevant code of conduct.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee noted the procedure to be followed under the Licensing Act 2003 when an objection to a Temporary Events Notice (TEN) has been received.

The Chairman introduced the members of the Sub-Committee and the Officers present at the hearing.

It was confirmed that no notices of objection had been withdrawn and that all parties had received the relevant documentation.

The Specialist (Licensing) advised that a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) had been submitted for an event to be held on 24^th July 2021 at Westfield Playing Fields, Curry Rivel.  An objection notice had been duly served by the Police Licensing Officer on behalf of the Chief of Police for Avon and Somerset Constabulary for this temporary event notice.

The Specialist (Licensing) explained that the proposed start time for the event was 12 midday with an end time of midnight.  The maximum number of people that could be present at the event was 499 and was the maximum permitted by a temporary event notice.  The activities applied for were the sale by retail of alcohol, regulated entertainment and late night refreshment. The nature of the event was a one day family festival, live music stage, licensed bar, food vendors, stalls and kids zone.  The applicant had also provided some additional information about security and toilet provision at the event.  There was not a premises licence in place at the premises however there was one in progress but it was yet to be determined, as the application was required to be advertised.  It was therefore not possible to attach any conditions.

The Committee was addressed by the Police Licensing Officer on behalf of Avon and Somerset Constabulary.  She advised that she had received new information since the objection was submitted in respect of emails from SSDC Environmental Protection and Somerset County Council Highways, which had been circulated to members.  It was confirmed that the information submitted by Environmental Protection had not been received by the Notice Giver and would therefore need to be fully referred to in the police representation.   The Police Licensing Officer explained that having received further details provided by the Notice Giver, the Police were still not satisfied that issuing the notice would promote the four licensing objectives.  The Police had several concerns in relation to the paperwork received to support the temporary event notice and the management structure in respect of the event.  She referred to the Event Management Plan containing various inaccuracies and errors and highlighted some specific areas of concern including: confusion over whether the event was a family event or an over 18’s event and lack of information regarding ticket refunds and timings of the event. There was no clear guidance around conditions of entry, lack of information concerning the sale of alcohol and how Challenge 25 would work.  There was also concerns regarding the number of people at the event as 475 tickets were currently for sale and the total capacity for the event was 499 people which included all staff and security; there were thirteen named people on the management structure alongside five security officers.  The Event Management Plan also referred to a security and stewarding schedule but this had not been provided to the police.  The safeguarding policy was not considered to be fit for purpose and undermined the licensing objectives of the protection of children from harm as the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.