Consultation to support development of Forest Heath District Council Statement of Licensing Policy (Licensing Act 2003) 2019-2022 and Newmarket High Street Cumulative Impact Assessment

Audience: Chief officer of police for the area, fire and rescue service, local premises and licence holders, businesses and residents

This consultation is now closed. It was open from 31 July 2018 to 7 September 2018.

Section 5 of the Licensing Act 2003 requires a licensing authority to determine and publish a statement of its licensing policy at least once every five years. The policy must be published before it carries out any licensing functions under the act. The act requires that the licensing authority carries out its various licensing functions in order to promote the four following licensing objectives:

  • The prevention of crime and disorder
  • Public safety
  • The prevention of public nuisance
  • The protection of children from harm

We are seeking to renew the Forest Heath District Council Statement of Licensing policy before January 2019, fulfilling the statutory requirement to renew the policy every five years. There are no substantive policy changes at this stage but we would like to inform key stakeholders of the changes and welcome any comments. The changes include:

  • updated statistics
  • new Newmarket CIA map
  • changes reflecting updated legislation

View the draft Forest Heath District Council Statement of Licensing policy

Consequently, we invite you to comment on the new draft Forest Heath District Council Statement of Licensing policy before 11.59pm 7 September 2018. To do this, please send your comments to our licensing department by email at licensing@westsuffolk.gov.uk

Why are we doing this for Forest Heath just before the creation of a West Suffolk Council?

As you may be aware, Forest Heath District Council and St Edmundsbury Borough Council are preparing to become a single West Suffolk Council in April 2019 and their policies need to be harmonised before this point, including the two Statement of Licensing policies. The West Suffolk Shadow Authority, which is in place to oversee the transition to the new West Suffolk Council, will be producing a new West Suffolk Statement of Licensing Policy to take effect under the new West Suffolk Council from 1 April 2019. It is anticipated that the West Suffolk Statement of Licensing Policy will be based on the St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath policies which are broadly aligned already.

The existing policies of Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury councils will typically operate up until the end of March 2019. However, the Forest Heath Statement of Licensing Policy is due to expire in January 2019 and the council needs to renew the document at that point in order to allow Forest Heath District Council to carry out its licensing functions from January to the end of March 2019. We have reviewed the two existing Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury policies and drafted an updated Forest Heath policy that mirrors the St Edmundsbury policy approved in December 2017.

It should be noted that a full consultation will be carried out in 2022 on a new Statement of Licensing Policy for the West Suffolk Council.

Newmarket High Street Cumulative Impact Assessment

Please note that a parallel consultation is underway regarding the renewal of the Newmarket Cumulative Impact Area (CIA), previously named Cumulative Impact Policy (CIP). The CIA is implemented through our Statement of Licensing policy and also requires a decision on the renewal before January 2019. This special policy, if renewed will run for 3 years within the statement of licensing policy.

If you wish to participate in the consultation for the Newmarket High Street CIA, please complete the online survey before 11.59pm Friday 7 September 2018.

The policies will be discussed at the following committees:

  • 6 November 2018 Joint Cabinet
  • 19 December 2018 FHDC full Council