We met today for the sole purpose of signing off the revised statement of licensing policy. It had been to all of the Area Committees but we still had quite a lot of discussion from two councillors who represent areas to the East of the City Centre about how they would like off-licences included in the special saturation policy (area pictured) for East Oxford. Unfortunately councils can’t change the law on when SSPs are applicable!
A picture was painted of chaos and bedlam on Cowley Road with people drinking in the streets and then getting even more drunk in pubs there. I must say, as someone who cycles or walks home along Cowley Road practically every day and at all hours of the day and night I don’t recognise that picture at all. I don’t deny there are problems in East Oxford but I hardly think closing off licences is going to help. The two councillors that reported all this trouble live in Headington and Iffley Village and I can’t help wondering how much they actually see Cowley Road late at night. I of course don’t doubt their integrity and I know there have been a few nasty incidents recently but I do think the issues we see in Cowley Road are sometimes rather exaggerated.
What worried me most was that one member of the committee thought that good work had been done by a panel that refused a recent off-licence application for a new premises in Oxford only to have it granted on appeal by the Oxford Magistrates. I’m afraid that if panels refuse things with absolutely no evidence directly attributable to the site in question, and no objection from the Police, then that’s not really good work in my book. The licence will almost certainly get granted on appeal and runs the real risk of Magistrates (quite rightly) awarding costs against the City Council for behaving unreasonably in its decision. Councillors sitting on licensing panels MUST make decisions based on evidence and evidence alone. Licensing panel member do nobody any good at all if we don’t base decisions on evidence, especially the council-tax paying residents of Oxford, as decisions will not stand up to appeal and costs awarded against the Council will just come from council tax-payers money meaning other services have to suffer.
After all that discussion we did eventually agree to the licensing policy.