Licensing applications are “back to normal” in Sefton after a long dip during the pandemic.
The remarks were made last night, January 9, by Sefton Council’s senior licensing officer Kevin Coady at the first meeting of the borough’s licensing committee for 2023. The committee had met to discuss a review of the borough’s licensing strategy which is due to go for public consultation in April.
Mr Coady told councillors: “Every five years we look at the licensing policy and decide whether it’s functioning well.
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“Now the act tells you what you can and can’t put in, it doesn’t leave you a lot of room for manoeuvre and it has worked well over the years. There will be a 12 week consultation process for the draft which will run from April 24 to June 5. When it comes back from the public and goes to other authorities, it will be brought back to the committee again to make the final decision.”
Cllr Carla Thomas asked what was classed as relevant and non relevant information for making licensing decisions and Mr Coady replied that this was “determined by the four licensing objectives.”
He added: “The act sets out what we can and can’t accept, we have always erred on the side of caution giving the objectors their say rather than being really hard, so if they mention there may be noise, if we can accept it we will.
“The act sets out that if there are no objections then the request will be dealt with by officers but if contentious will go before the subcommittee.”
Chair of the committee Cllr John Kelly said he strives to give everyone a chance to “have their say.”
Cllr Kelly said: “They can have as long as they want to discuss the issues, we’ve had meetings lasting three hours, that’s fine, we want people to have their say."
Councillors agreed to note the report and Mr Coady then presented a report reviewing licensing activities which had been decided by officers in recent months.
He said: “These are all non contentious items that have been dealt with by officers, just run-of-the-mill applications. It is worth noting that the numbers are well and truly back to pre pandemic levels now, so it’s all back to normal.”
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