The Licensing Committee of the Council of the Isles of Scilly met on Thursday 3 July 2025 to elect a chair and vice-chair, and to consider the appointment of a Licensing Sub-Committee.

Appointment of a Licensing Sub-Committee

The committee was scheduled to discuss the appointment of a Licensing Sub-Committee for the administrative year 2025-26. The report pack included a recommendation that members appoint a sub-committee of the Licensing Committee.

The proposed terms of reference for the Licensing Sub-Committee were:

• Membership to be any three members drawn from the Licensing Committee.
• All three members must have undergone 'licensing training' provided by the Council.
• A fourth member will also be stood as reserve in the event that one of the three appointed members cannot attend a scheduled hearing.
• The powers of the Licensing Sub-Committee shall be restricted to making decisions on applications made under the Licensing Act 2003 or the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982.

The report pack stated that it is customary for licensing authorities to annually set up a licensing sub-committee to discharge the business of the authority in respect of decisions that are necessary following receipt of relevant representations for areas of the Licensing Act 2003. These are all set out at Schedule 3 of the Hearings Regulations 2005.

The report pack noted that in most cases there is no need for these applications to be considered by a hearing on Scilly, as most applications cause no concern to statutory consultees, such as the police, environmental health, etc, nor to the public. However, in some cases, mainly around applications to vary a premises license, or the granting of a premises license, there are relevant representations received by the licensing department that cannot be mediated and so a hearing is required to decide the outcome of the application.

The report pack stated that it is essential that some relevant training is given to those members who are sitting as a member of the Licensing Sub-Committee who will hear such applications, and such training is scheduled to follow this meeting. Completion of this training is a pre-requisite for sitting as a member on the Licensing Sub-Committee.

The report pack also noted that any person or body has the right to appeal against a decision of the Licensing Sub-Committee provided they were the applicant or a party to the hearing. Applicants who have their application turned down by the Licensing Sub-Committee, or have unwanted conditions imposed on them, can seek redress by applying to a Magistrates' Court within 21 days of the decision being issued in writing. The appeal process involves a rehearing of the case where new evidence can be presented, and the Magistrates' Court can either uphold the original decision, grant the appeal, or remit the case back to the sub-committee for reconsideration.

The report pack stated that proper consideration by members of each application on the evidence provided is vital to avoid the likelihood of an appellant having the decision quashed, as this will usually accrue high costs for the local authority, and reputational damage.

Other items

The agenda for the meeting of the Licensing Committee, included:

• Election of Chairman
• Election of Vice-Chairman
• Declarations of Interest
• Approval of the Minutes of Previous Meeting
• Urgent Items