An oral update will be provided at the meeting
Minutes:
9.1 The Committee was provided with a verbal update by Sara Sutton, Director of Public Protection and Licensing on discussions which had taken place in relation to the Notting Hill Carnival. She informed those present that there had been several assessments undertaken, particularly in relation to safety and security of the Carnival. There had been a number of incidents at the Carnival last year that had led to significant concerns from all agencies, including the Police, particularly in relation to the potential for crowd crushing. This had led to reviews, including one by The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (‘MOPAC’) Police and Crime Committee. They had submitted a report with a number of recommendations. A further review had been jointly commissioned with MOPAC which had engaged independent expertise and was focussed on crowd dynamics/movements. This looked at the wider footprint and a number of pinchpoint issues. The further review was due by the end of March. There were a number of workshops taking place in relation to this in order to look at the mitigating actions for the 2017 Carnival and future years.
9.2 Ms Sutton emphasised that there is limited time to deal with the issues in relation to the 2017 Carnival. She stated that the Strategic Partnership Group, which was having regular meetings, brought together a number of agencies including MOPAC, WCC, RBKC, the Police and the Notting Hill Carnival Trust. The Police were carrying out a counter-terrorist review which was looking at the potential impact of hostile vehicle attacks at the Carnival. There was therefore a convergence of activity happening and the Strategic Partnership Group needed to understand how all these issues could best be addressed. Ms Sutton advised the Committee that the Partnership Group was of the view that the limited time before the Carnival meant it would not be possible to make any significant changes or recommendations from a licensing perspective. However, there were some matters within the Council’s gift that would allow officers to make some changes and this would be in partnership with RBKC. It was not yet known what changes would be proposed in the crowd dynamics report. There were highways powers which could be used if it was felt appropriate to do so. Ms Sutton added that officers were totally committed to doing all they could so that they fully engaged with stakeholders and the mitigation measures that would be taken would be appropriate for safety and security of the Carnival. There would be significant changes in future years but for this year key ones would be taken based on risk assessments in the concurrent pieces of work.
9.3 The Chairman asked Ms Sutton whether further consideration should be given to progress on the Notting Hill discussions by the Licensing Committee on 5 July and full Council on 12 July once matters were more advanced. She replied that it was necessary to understand what the scale of change would be for this year’s Carnival and how to respond to that prior to providing further information to the Licensing Committee. Ms Sutton expressed the view that there would need to be communications to full Council. She also stated that one of the recommendations was likely to be the need for an event management company to be set up by the Carnival Trust. As a partner, there was likely to be the request for funding to support that.
9.4 The Chairman asked whether there would be any restrictions on the community being permitted small business opportunities, such as selling food or drink, at the Carnival. Ms Sutton replied that the celebratory nature of the Carnival was understood. There was however evidence that in some areas there was serious risk of crushing from crowd movement. Any recommendations to the Sub-Committee such as in relation to any temporary event notices applied for were likely to depend on the location / pinchpoints.
9.5 RESOLVED: That an updated report on the Notting Hill Carnival be provided for the next meeting of the Committee on 5 July 2017.