Agenda and minutes

Councillor Merik Apak, the only appointed Licensing Panel E Panel Member present, was nominated as chair for the duration of the meeting. It was confirmed that the election of chair for Licensing Panel E for the municipal year 2023/24 would be deferred to the next meeting.

RESOLVED –

THAT Councillor Merik Apak was elected as Chair of Licensing Panel E for the duration of the meeting.

To agree the procedure rules for remote meetings.

RESOLVED –

THAT the guidance on remote meetings be noted.

Apologies had been received from Councillors Richard Olszewski and Nina de Ayala Parker.

There were no declarations.

Broadcasting of meeting

The Chair made the following announcement: “In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record this meeting, I would like to remind everyone that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for six months after the meeting. After that time, recordings are archived and can be made available upon request.

If you have asked to address the meeting, you are deemed to be consenting to having your contributions recorded and broadcast, including video when switched on, and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.”

There was not urgent business.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2023.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2023 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities.

This is an application for a Temporary Event Notice under section 100 of the Licensing Act 2003.

Reasons for urgency

Under the Licensing Act 2003, a standard temporary event notice may be submitted to the Licensing Authority and Police and Environmental Health responsible authorities no less than 10 working days prior to the first day on which the event takes place. Within 3 working days, the Police and Environmental Health responsible authorities may make an objection notice against the temporary event notice, and a panel hearing must then be held within 7 working days beginning with the day after the end of the period within which an objection notice may be given. Due to these short timescales this item has been put forward as urgent so as to comply with the Licensing Act 2003 and the regulations that accompany it.

Consideration was given to a report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities detailing applications for six temporary event notices (TENs) under Section 100 of the Licensing Act 2003.

The Licensing Officer summarised the report. A correction was made to the published report, that the application was for on and off sales of alcohol.

PC Rachel Aldis summarised the Police objection notice. In addition to the written representation, the following was outlined:

-       In order to ensure a safe and legal event, the Police believed that each TEN area (up to 499 people) should be separated using barriers and clickers to monitor the number in each area.

-       The Police stated that earlier in the week they had a meeting with the Applicant. During that meeting, the applicant claimed there would be 2,000 at the event at any given time, 4,000 per hour, and the whole event throughout the day in total may attract 20,000 visitors. The Police took into consideration the 120 stall holders and security staff adding to the people footprint. In current plans, and did not believe there was the ability for the organisers to know how many visitors would attend the event at any given time.

-       The Police did not oppose the event itself and understood the event to have run well in the past, with no recorded incidents, however in the past the event was licensed to operate under a premises licence with conditions and was not operating on multiple TENs.

During questions of the responsible authority, the following was clarified:

-       Within the report, the Police were objecting the TEN applications on public safety grounds and not crime and disorder. Environmental Health did not make a representation.

-       The Police confirmed that if the event were to go ahead using multiple TENs, the Licensing Act would be compromised by breaching the numbers allowed at a TENs event, given the expected numbers and no plans for barriers.

-       The Police confirmed they had tried to mediate with the event organisers before the hearing, but were unsuccessful in resolving all of their concerns. The applicant was not prepared to accept the Police recommendations for barriers to be installed.

-       The Police clarified that the sectioning of TENs areas was necessary because one of the TENs would be providing regulated entertainment: 115511 - Heath Street. From the junction with East Heath Road/West Heath Road at the upper end to junction with Upper Terrace at the lower end.

Els Bauer (Chair of the Hampstead Summer Festival), accompanied by Margaret Anne Ward (Applicant) and Simon Freedman (CSP Security Services), summarised the applications. In addition to the information set out in the papers, the following was stated:

-       The annual Hampstead Summer Festival had operated since 2011 and paused between 2019-2022 due to the pandemic.

-       The festival was a family event and no incidents had occurred in previous years.

-       It was confirmed that the organisers would usually apply for a premises licence to cover the whole event, however  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

There was no urgent business.