A CONCERNED councillor questioned the effectiveness of Denbighshire Council’s licensing committee and queried whether issues affecting pub licences were only being dealt with by council officers behind closed doors.
Speaking at a licensing committee meeting on Tuesday, Rhyl councillor Brian Jones questioned officers on why the committee only seemed to discuss Hackney Carriage and taxi matters.
Cllr Jones also said the committee wasn’t as proactive or “effective” as it had once been.
Instead, the Rhyl councillor said an earlier iteration of the committee had toured pubs with North Wales Police, ensuring licensees were complying with council rules.
“On this forward work programme, I’ve noticed if we go back to 2017 that the forward work programme now, we never seem to see any items for the committee around such things as public houses, licences to do with that,” said Cllr Jones.
“It seems the agenda has been watered down and the effectiveness of the committee has been reduced. Or have I read that wrongly?
“It seems (to be) Hackney Carriage licences and one or two things to do with taxis, and that is it.
“I remember us dealing with issues around licences (pubs) matters, etc, etc.
“Have I read it wrong, or has there been a shift and the responsibility has been taken away from the licensing committee in a number of aspects?”
But licensing officer Gareth Roberts denied this.
“No, nothing has changed, Brian (Cllr Jones),” he said.
“As applications come in, if there’s an application that deviates from policy or there’s a particular issue in the way that we have with Hackney Carriages with licences, then the same thing would apply.”
Cllr Jones added: “Alright, I’m not making a big deal out of it, but I did get contacted by a member of the public that had been involved in an incident at a licensed premises, and I think I directed him to the chair of this committee, but the committee never hear about these things any more, and it appears that is it all being dealt with by the officers, and the licensing committee are not part of the bigger picture.”
He added: “I did ask when I got re-elected in February 2022 about visiting licensed premises at the weekend, doing checks with the police, but none of that seems to happen any more. Is there a reason for that?”
But the committee’s chairwoman Cllr Bobby Feeley said the council dealt with licensing issues through the committee “as we always have done”.
Cllr Jones added: “It must be me getting paranoid in my old age.”
The committee then voted in favour of discussing confidential items and excluding the press and public.
