The Licensing Committee of Haringey Council met on 28 July 2025 to discuss a consultation on a draft statement of licensing policy, and revisions to the Massage and Special Treatment licensing function. The meeting was scheduled to take place at the George Meehan House in Wood Green.

Draft Statement of Licensing Policy

The committee was scheduled to consider a report that recommends that they approve a consultation on the draft Haringey Statement of Licensing Policy 2026-2031. The current Licensing Policy is due to be reviewed and published by January 2026, as required by section 5 of the Licensing Act 2003¹.

The report pack stated that the statement of licensing policy should make it clear that licensing law is not the primary mechanism for the general control of nuisance and anti-social behaviour. However, it also noted that the guidance states that licensing law is a key aspect of such control and should always be part of a holistic approach to the management of the evening and night-time economy.

The draft policy introduces various policies and measures that promote the four licensing objectives:

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

The report pack noted that there had been some changes to the Section 182 Guidance issued for licensing authorities, and that the majority of these changes had been automatically incorporated into the policy document. Some of the main amendments to the policy that were listed in the report pack were:

• Removal of guidance relating to Coronavirus
• Updated alcohol harm data
• Updated wording around pavement licensing
• Revised wording on Corporate Plan and links with other strategies
• Responding to the proposed Martyn's Law² by outlining event and large venue safety and risk assessment and the dispersal of patrons from premises
• The impact in certain areas of low cost, high strength alcohol sales and street drinking
• Updated wording on framework hours
• A new section on responsible management for licensed premises relating to match and event days in a given area
• A new section showing examples of model conditions
• Updated responsible authorities information

The report pack stated that a survey asking for views on licensed premises in the borough was sought from business and the general public. The data from the responses showed that most respondents were happy with the status quo, however some felt that there are too many off licences in the borough, a view shared by Public Health.

The report pack also provided a proposed timetable for the public consultation on the draft policy amendments and for final approval of the 2026 – 2031 policy document.

Revision of Massage and Special Treatment Licensing

The committee was scheduled to consider a report about the fees and charges for 2025 – 26, and the updated processing functions and revised standard conditions that will be applied to each licence, for massage and special treatments.

The report pack stated that the licensing service sought to review the Massage and Special Treatment licensing function with a view to simplifying the process for applicants, updating the local regulations and guidelines, updating the fee structure, and making it easier to start up and grow businesses in the borough.

The licensing service based the functions on 'Class 1/2/3/4 activities', with 'Class 1' activities carrying an increased risk to public safety. The proposed application requirements for each type were outlined in the report.

The report pack stated that in addition to the licensing of premises, any individual person who physically carries out any of the functions requires a registration. The Licensing Service are proposing only minor changes to this established activity, mainly to clarify that a person is registered as a practitioner rather than licensed and some other minor changes to the application requirements.

The report pack also stated that provisions under Part II, Section 4 of the Act enables members of recognised Professional Bodies to be registered to be exempted from application requirements for some forms of specified treatments, and that the Licensing Service has not charged any fee to persons seeking to register. Two new fees for both exempt premises and exempt practitioners will be introduced to enable cost recovery of this activity.

The report pack also included proposed revised standard licence conditions which, if adopted, will apply to all special treatment licensed premises within the borough. The revised conditions are based on the recommended conditions for special treatment premises originally produced by the London Special Treatment Working Group, of which Haringey Council is a participating member, and are considered as best practice.

The main changes in the revised conditions are:

• The revision of the council's general licensing conditions for Special Treatment Licensing
• The revision of specific treatment conditions for the most common treatments, bringing them up to date with current legislation and best practice
• The removal of conditions that are otherwise covered by other legislation
• The requirement for all practitioners to hold a Regulated Qualification for the treatments that they wish to offer, where a regulated qualification exists for that treatment
• The introduction of a 'guest practitioner', temporary amendment to the licence
• The requirement for licence holders to hold public liability and indemnity insurance

The report pack included comments from the Finance Officer, who stated that the Licensing service has reviewed and considered staff hours employed in administering each type of application, and has proposed a fee structure intended to achieve full cost recovery for each fee category.

The report pack also included comments from the Director Legal and Governance, who saw no legal reason why the Licensing Committee should not adopt the recommendations in this report.

Confirmation of Minutes

Councillor Anna Abela, Chair of Licensing Committee, scheduled to lead a discussion to confirm and agree the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 6 January 2025³. The minutes include discussion of a report introduced by Ms Daliah Barret, Licensing Team Leader, on the review of fees and charges for licences in 2025-26.