Agenda and minutes

The Clerk welcomed everyone to the meeting and the Chair issued the safety information.

Apologies were received from Councillors Hance, Hulme, Grant, Hucker and Davies.

To note any declarations of interest from the Councillors.  They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Please note that the Register of Interests is available at

Councillors’ interests, gifts and hospitality - bristol.gov.uk

Any declarations of interest made at the meeting which is not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.

No interests declared.

To agree the following minutes:-

The minutes from 23 June 2023 were approved as a true and correct record.

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Public Forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting.  For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on Friday 19 January 2024.

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the working day prior to the meeting.  For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on Wednesday 24 January 2024.

Members of the press and public who plan to attend a public meeting at City Hall are advised that you will be required to sign in when you arrive and you will be issued with a visitor pass which you will need to display at all times.

Statements were received from Councillor Marley Bennett, and Piers Warne of TLT.

Public Forum was noted.

Abigail Holman, Licensing Officer, provided an overview of the report. Highlighting the following;

·       A statement of licensing policy is required every 5 years.

·       In 2021 Bristol agreed to put a city centre CIA in place which expires on 7^th March 2024.

·       A CIA means the starting point for alcohol-led late-night venues is refusal, unless the applicant can clearly evidence that it will not cause additional impact within the CIA. If the CIA is removed, the starting point is approval, unless representations are made. Each applicant is based solely on merit and the application process and ability of persons to make representations on any application does not change.

·       Public consultation has been undertaken with approx. 200 responses. The consensus is that residents in the city centre want to retain the CIA. Comments relating to general noise from vehicles, or waste control etc. were disregarded as not relevant to the CIA.

·       The Councils Pollution Control, as well as Enforcement team were asked to respond to the consultation but did not submit a response.

·       The committee must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to retain a CIA. Officers advised that it was felt there was not enough evidence at this time to keep the CIA in place. The CIA was intended to be strictly applied and should not be used as a bargaining tool by responsible authorities.

·       Police confirmed that removing the CIA would not impact how they police the city centre.

Councillors noted the report and followed with a debate. The key points were as follows;

·       No clear consensus on whether to remove or retain the CIA. Some Members felt the CIA helps us to achieve our Licensing objectives, and others felt it lacked clear evidence.

·       The Police would like the CIA to remain in place. It was noted that this is contradictory to how they work in practice as the police usually work with the applicant to agree conditions or amended times before the application reaches Committee, instead of following the CIA which suggests refusal.

·       If we can’t clearly evidence that late night alcohol serving venues are causing crime and disorder in the city centre, what are we saying is causing it? The evidence is surely implicit.

·       Members were concerned that council teams did not respond to the consultation.

·       Members felt the consultation wording should have been clearer for residents, so they could provide clearer evidence on how alcohol-led late night venues impact on local crime and disorder.

·       If there is not enough evidence for or against, some Members felt the CIA should remain in place until a suitable solution is found, otherwise we are risking people within the night-time economy.

·       The CIA can be reviewed at any time and there is no restriction on how long after a previous CIA is removed a request can be made. It would simply require Councillors to submit a representation to the Licensing Authority, which would trigger a review.

Councillor Poultney proposed the following motion which was seconded by Councillor Eddy; Motion  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.