The Licensing Committee of Camden Council scheduled a meeting for 30 April 2025, to discuss and review the Statement of Licensing Policy 2025-2030, consider feedback from a public consultation, and hear deputations regarding the policy. The main focus of the meeting was to consider the draft policy and recommend it to the council for adoption.

Here's a breakdown of the key topics that were scheduled for discussion:

Review of the Statement of Licensing Policy 2025-2030

The committee was expected to review Camden's draft Statement of Licensing Policy 2025-2030, which outlines how the council intends to regulate licensable activities within the borough over the next five years. The report pack included the proposed draft of the Statement of Licensing Policy itself, a summary of the consultation responses, a schedule of proposed changes, the consultation responses, and an equalities impact assessment.

Key areas of focus in the policy included:

• Framework hours for licensable activities
• Cumulative impact assessments
• Women's safety
• Drink spiking
• Licensing principles and best practices
• Premises policies for different types of establishments
• Licence variations
• Responsibilities of licence holders and reviews
• Temporary event notices
• Personal licences
• Designated premises supervisors
• Enforcement and monitoring

The report pack included a summary of the consultation responses, which highlighted several key themes and areas of concern:

• The prevention of crime and disorder
• Public safety
• The prevention of public nuisance
• The protection of children from harm
• Balancing economic and community interests

The report pack also included a schedule of proposed changes to the draft policy, which included:

• Reintroducing a section on risk assessment
• Revising the model conditions
• Revising the wording in paragraph 5.8 to ensure that applicants assess potential risks and proactively include appropriate conditions to mitigate them
• Updating the draft Policy to introduce a requirement to review dispersal policies whenever recurring issues related to the dispersal of customers arise
• Amending paragraph 4.32 of the draft Policy to set a clear expectation for applicants to complete WAVE training and implement the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme or a similar initiative
• Revising paragraph 4.44 of the draft Policy to set a clear expectation for applicants to assess the risks associated with psychoactive substances at their venue and implement appropriate measures to mitigate these risks effectively

The report pack asked the Licensing Committee to consider and note the consultation responses to the draft Statement of Licensing Policy 2025-2030, recommend the draft Statement of Licensing Policy to Council for adoption, and note and comment on the draft Statement of Licensing Policy 2025-2030 and the Licensing Committee’s recommendation to Council.

Deputations

The committee was scheduled to hear deputations from:

• David Kaner, Covent Garden Community Association
• Clive Henderson, Charlotte Street Association
• Kate Gemmel, Tenants Residents Associations Camden Town

The deputation from David Kaner of the Covent Garden Community Association stated that while the Policy before the committee was better and more balanced than the one considered at the November meeting, they were still concerned about the change in the extension by 30 minutes, and that Framework Hours should not be seen as a cut-off time. They were pleased that the section on the need for Applicants to carry out a risk assessment had been reintroduced, and supported the emphasis on Enforcement and Monitoring. They also stated that the Licensing Objectives are the paramount consideration, and that Responsible Authorities must think about the negative impacts that might result from the proposal.

The deputation from Clive Henderson of the Charlotte Street Association objected to the proposal to increase the terminal hours for the Framework Hours, because the closing time of premises will be even later. They were also concerned that the proposed extended Framework Hours will generally give the ”green light” for premises to apply for the later hours in Fitzrovia as the norm.

The deputation from Kate Gemmel of the Tenants Residents Associations Camden Town stated that they welcomed the revisions that have been made during consultation and believe this is a better and more balanced policy as a result. They were unhappy about the failure of the Council to publish a Cumulative Impact Assessment because they have determined that there is insufficient evidence of Cumulative Impact, and that the Council has not yet addressed the fact that it doesn’t collect noise nuisance that arises in the street. They also stated that they would prefer that Framework Hours remain the same as they are today.