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Licensing and General Purposes Committee - Thursday 7th November, 2024 7.00 pm

November 7, 2024 View on council website  Watch video of meeting  Watch video of meeting  Watch video of meeting  Watch video of meeting  Watch video of meeting or read trancript  Watch video of meeting or read trancript  Watch video of meeting  Watch video of meeting  Watch video of meeting  Watch video of meeting  Watch video of meeting or read trancript  Watch video of meeting or read trancript  Watch video of meeting or read trancript  Watch video of meeting  Watch video of meeting
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Summary

The Licensing and General Purposes Committee approved a revised Licensing Policy 1 for the period 2025 to 2030, and recommended that it be adopted at the next full meeting of the council. The committee noted that public consultation had taken place and that 24 responses had been received. Concerns were raised about a perceived increase in male-dominated cafés, with members citing businesses such as the Toscana, Cafe 01, Tirana, and Pizreni on Vivian Avenue in Hendon. Some respondents believed these venues were intimidating to women, with one resident stating:

Since Covid, we have several cafes and restaurants now on Vivian Avenue, Hendon, that cater exclusively to men. They are not welcoming to women or families, and typically have large groups of men standing outside smoking, drinking and staring at passers-by. Many of us women who live in the area are intimidated and threatened when having to walk past these gangs of men who now congregate daily on the high street.

Ash Shah, the Service Manager responsible for Trading Standards and Licensing, stated that The Council's Community Safety Team now participates in all licence application consultations for new, varied, and reviewed applications, and that a Licensing Action Group, comprising representatives from all relevant responsible authorities including the Police, has been created to address such concerns. Mr Shah acknowledged the low response rate to the consultation but assured members that their concerns regarding engagement would be passed on to The Council's communications team.

The Committee noted a report 2 on the Council's health, safety, and wellbeing performance for 2023/24. There was a slight increase in reported workplace incidents during the reporting period, which Mike Kumi, Head of the Safety, Health and Well-being service, attributed to a campaign to encourage reporting of near misses and verbal assaults. Mr Kumi stated:

There has been a slight increase in accidents reported, but we have actually run a campaign to encourage reporting of near misses and also verbal assaults, which are underreported nationally. And we've just been trying to get an increase in that. And we've actually seen an increase in those reports of around 15%, which then translates into an increase in reported incidents, but actually rather than it being a negative figure, it's actually positive in that we've got more people to report things. So we will monitor those, obviously, we'll continue to monitor those trends, and if we feel that the trends are going up, then we'll intervene to take some actions to reduce them.

Mr Kumi also highlighted an increase in the number of RIDDOR 3 reportable incidents from four in 2022/23 to nine in 2023/24. The most common types of reported workplace incidents were slips, trips and falls, verbal assaults, and handling and carrying injuries. The most common types of reported work-related ill health were stress-related and mental illness and musculoskeletal injuries. Mr Kumi stated that musculoskeletal injuries were most often reported in the Streetscene Directorate 4 and in Schools, and that stress-related illness is a national issue. The Committee agreed the following health, safety and wellbeing priorities for the period 2025 to 2027:

• Seek reductions of at least 10% in days lost due to stress-related and mental ill health. • Seek reductions of at least 10% in days lost due to work-related musculoskeletal injuries. • Review and improve statutory building compliance monitoring in community schools. • Implement the actions contained in the Workplace Wellbeing Action Plan.

A report 5 on the statutory review of polling districts and polling places for 2024 was noted by the committee. No changes to existing polling districts and polling places were proposed. Councillor Caroline Stock questioned the use of Millbrook Park Primary School as a polling station, citing a lack of parking and proposing the use of Frith Manor School instead. John Bailey, Head of Electoral Services, explained that Frith Manor School had been assessed and deemed suitable for use as a polling station, but that geographical data analysis had shown that 89% of electors live closer to Millbrook Park School, and that therefore moving the polling station would disadvantage more people than it would benefit.

The committee also noted a report 6 reviewing the GLA election in May 2024 and the UKPG election in July 2024. The report highlighted the challenges of delivering two major elections in quick succession against a backdrop of significant legislative changes brought about by the Elections Act 2022. John Bailey, the Head of Electoral Services, praised the resilience and adaptability of the Elections Project Team. The report included four recommendations to the Returning Officer and Electoral Registration Officer:

• Conduct a review of postal and proxy vote operations. • Formally establish quarterly election preparation meetings. • Continue with annual 'interim' polling reviews. • Review mitigations for the Electoral Registration ‘Elections surge’.


  1. The Licensing Act 2003 places a duty upon all licensing authorities to publish a statement of its Licensing Policy at least once every five years. 

  2. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to manage health and safety by identifying risks, controlling those risks, and monitoring to ensure those controls remain suitable.  

  3. RIDDOR stands for Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations. It is a UK law that requires employers, the self-employed, and people in control of work premises to report certain work-related accidents, diseases, and dangerous occurrences. 

  4. The Streetscene Directorate is a council department responsible for services such as waste collection, street cleaning, and parks and open spaces management. 

  5. The Representation of the People Act 1983 (as amended by section 17 of the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013), requires councils to undertake a compulsory review of all polling districts and polling places in the 16-month period from 1 October 2013, and then within the same period every fifth year after that. 

  6. The Elections Act 2022 introduced a number of changes to electoral law, including the requirement for voters to show photo ID at polling stations.