Agenda item

The Committee is asked to consider the proposal to commence consultation on the proposal to maintain Cumulative Impact Areas as currently set out in the Licensing Statement of Policy 2018 and the reasons for this, agree that consultation be commenced regarding Cumulative Impact Areas and to note that the outcome of the consultation exercise will be reported back to

Committee for further consideration and, if necessary, onward

recommendation to Full Council.

The Head of Public Protection and Licensing introduced the report. He stated that Croydon’s Licensing Statement of Policywas last reviewed in 2017 and republished in 2018. The Licensing Act 2003 required local authorities to review and republish the policy every five years, therefore a review for Croydon Council was due in 2022. Since 2018, Cumulative Impact Zones (CIZs) had been put on an equal statutory footing to the licensing objectives. CIZs could be introduced or removed by councils during a review. For CIZs already in existence before 2018, guidance recommended that they be reviewed at a maximum of three years following the legislative change, which meant Corydon must review its existing CIZs before 6 April 2021 using a Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA). According to those deadlines, during 2020 the council ideally would have collected data, however the pandemic had seriously limited the ability to measure valid data due to the effect on premises and street activity during this time.

The proposal to Committee was that the licensing authority undertake a six week consultation, with the proposal to extend the current cumulative impact policy in its current form on the understanding that a comprehensive review would be undertaken when the council reviewed its overarching Licensing Statement of Policy in 2022. Following consultation, the proposal would return to the next Licensing Committee for consideration  in March 2021.

In response to the Chair, the Head of Public Protection and Licensing stated that consultation would commence as soon as possible following agreement from the Committee today.

In response to Members noting that restrictions resulting from CIZs would hinder struggling businesses in the current financial climate, the Head of Public Protection and Licensing commented that the removal CIZs had to be based on data and CIZs were not a blunt tool. CIZs set a presumption to refuse an application in the area, however exceptional applications were able to be granted on their merits. Other Members noted the need for CIZs in particular areas in Croydon and they did not affect good applications being granted.

In response to a Member asking if other councils were using a similar approach to that proposed here, the Head of Public Protection and Licensing stated not all councils would be in the same position at as they may not be due for a review at the same time as Croydon, but they would be in a situation of considering this extension when required. Some councils may have decided to withdraw CIZs, however he would question the validity of the data in this period.

In response to Members’ questioning how the licensing department would consulting with stakeholders, the Head of Public Protection and Licensing stated they would be consulting with statutory consultees, as listed at paragraph 3.7 of the report, and council would send out communications as an engagement consultation. In the future event of any proposal to add or remove a CIZ based on data, rather than temporally maintain the current policy, they would consult more widely.

Members commented that the proposals were a pragmatic approach to the circumstances and holding the two reviews alongside each other made sense operationally. The Chair noted that it would be worth the Licensing Committee discussing the future of CIZs in Croydon in a future meeting when more reliable evidence was available.

It was agreed that the consultation would run for a seven week period, instead of the initially proposed six week, to make up for lost time over the Christmas period and to ensure an adequate response time was given to consultees.

The Committee RESOLVED to:

1.        Consider the proposal to commence consultation on the proposal to maintain Cumulative Impact Areas as currently set out in the Licensing Statement of Policy 2018 and the reasons for this;

2.        Agree that consultation be commenced regarding Cumulative Impact Areas as detailed in paragraph 3.6; and

3.        Note that the outcome of the consultation exercise will be reported back to Committee for further consideration and, if necessary, onward recommendation to Full Council.