St Ebbe’s loses lapdancing case

It’s reported today that St. Ebbe’s church as lost its appeal against the City Council’s licensing decision to allow regulated sex entertainment at the very nearby Thirst Lodge.  Costs of £12,000 were awarded against the church.

I don’t have much to say about this but thought I should comment as it is in my ward.  Firstly, I don’t think the City Council is here to be the moral guardian of Oxford, or its people, so should not make decisions solely on moral grounds. Secondly, I feel very sorry for both parties as they have both spent a large amount of time and money at an appeal that should probably have never happened.  The original decision was entirely soundly made and entirely within the licensing guidelines and the City Council’s licensing policy.  Finally, I hope that both parties can now enter into dialogue and try to understand the depth and sincerity of each other’s feelings and work out a way to coexist as neighbours as constructively as possible.

A walk around the ward with PC Paul Phillips

I met with PC Paul Phillips today and we had a walk around Carfax Ward.  Paul’s been policing this area for 8 years now and clearly knows lots of people and is generally accepted and liked in the neighbourhood.

28062010698.jpgWe talked about issues which include homelessness, drug dealing and binge drinking.  It was good to see Paul being firm but fair and polite with people being antisocial in the streets and we came across a couple of worries.  These were the £2 per pint of Stella all day at one pub and the complete blocking of the fire exit of another by a parked car – despite the sign!

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Licensing Training

Licensing Training SlideThis was a long but useful session.  It was introduced by Tony Payne, Support Development and Licensing Team manager, and we were given lots of useful information about the structure of the licensing committees and subcommittees in the Council.

There are two main committees:  The Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee deals with alcohol, entertainment and late food licensing as well as gambling establishments.

The General Purposes Licensing Committee deals with street trading; hackney carriage and private hire and sex establishment licensing (table dancing, pole dancing, lap dancing etc.).  There are also several subcommittees.

Julian Allison is the licensing team leader and told us lots about how the 2003 act works and is based around the Council’s licensing policy that it is legally require to have and regularly review.  We learned about personal licences and premises licences.

Finally, two of the City council’s solicitors, Daniel Smith and Jeremy Franklin, explained to us how licensing hearings work.  A very interesting and useful session.  You may be interested to know that you can check current licensing applications online.