This meeting was scheduled to include a review of the fees the council charges for licences issued under the Licensing Act 2003, and to receive an update on the Westminster After Dark initiative. The committee was also scheduled to receive an update on the status of appeals against its decisions.

The report pack for the meeting does not record what was actually said at the meeting, or what decisions, if any, were made by the councillors present.

Licensing Fee Review 2025-2026

The Licensing Service was scheduled to present their annual review of the fees the council charges for issuing licences, permits and certificates under a variety of different licensing regimes.

The report, which was prepared by Andrew Ralph, the Head of Service for Licensing & Regulatory Services, explains how the council calculates the costs of administering each licensing regime, and proposes new fees that are designed to recover those costs.

The report explains that under the law, the council can set its own fees for the following licensing regimes:

• Auctions
• Animals
• Sexual Entertainment Venues
• Marriage
• Entertainment (Other)
• Hypnotism
• Sports Ground
• Scrap Metal Dealers - Site Licence
• Scrap Metal Dealers - Collector's Licence

The fees for all of these regimes were scheduled to be discussed in the meeting, and the report pack contains draft tables of both the existing fees and the proposed new fees.

Update of Licensing Appeals

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on licensing appeals that have been made since the previous meeting of the committee. This report was prepared by Ms Heidi Titcombe, Principal Solicitor (Licensing and Highways Legal Team), on behalf of the Director of Law.

The report explains that:

Legal Services has been dealing with seven pending licensing appeals since September 2024, plus an additional two appeals as specified in section 5 below. Five appeals have been settled, one withdrawn (Concept – costs to be agreed), leaving four pending appeals.

It then provides details of all of the appeals, including the following appeals against decisions which were pending at the time the report was prepared:

• Soho Society appeal against new licence granted to Pontstreet9 Limited for a gin distillery and shop at 13 Meard Street, London, W1F 0ES The Soho Society was scheduled to appeal on the grounds of procedural unfairness, arguing that evidence from the London Fire Brigade should not have been considered by the committee. They were also due to argue for amendments to be made to three of the conditions attached to the licence.
• Appeal against revocation of licence for Sunset Strip, Basement to First Floor, 30 Dean Street, London, W1D 3QL Sohomead Ltd were scheduled to appeal against the revocation of their Sexual Entertainment Venue (SEV) licence, and their Premises Licence.
• Appeal against conditions imposed on a shadow licence for 14 – 22 Ganton Street, London, W1F 7BS The licence holder, Shaftesbury AV Ltd, was scheduled to appeal against a condition requiring the licence to be surrendered.
• Appeal against refusal to grant a licence to busk to Mr Povey Mr Povey's application for a busking licence had previously been refused on the grounds that he was not a fit and proper person because he had been found guilty of busking without a licence on four previous occasions.

As well as listing the appeals, the report also includes details of some high profile cases including:

• The prosecution of the council by Global Radio in which Global, whose offices are located near a designated busking pitch in Leicester Square, contend that the council is failing in its duty to prevent a statutory nuisance by failing to take action against unlicensed buskers who perform in the square.
• The prosecution of Mr Andrabi, of French Tacos, 414 Harrow Road, London W9 2HU for supplying late night refreshment without a licence. In this case, which considered the question of who supplies food under the Licensing Act 2003, the court found that the supply was made by Mr Andrabi, despite the food being delivered to customers by Uber Eats drivers.

Westminster After Dark – to follow

The agenda suggests that the committee was scheduled to be given an update on the Westminster After Dark initiative at the meeting. However, there are no documents included in the report pack that provide any details of what was scheduled to be discussed.