Of course I do not know all the local details or those of your meeting so my thinking is based on my experience over the past four years, but not just locally here. I hope that you are right to place all of your faith in your Council leader.

However, I have had many such words from many councillors including the Chairman of the Licensing Committee, and their officers are still preventing sessions here without PELs.

I fear that you and us all ARE under full frontal attack and because of this, I just do not see any way forward, if she is insisting that the Palm Tree session can only be enabled at this point by obtaining a PEL and will continue to be prevented without one.

The session really does not need an addional licence to ensure the public's safety. I fear that once you allow the officers to establish this at the Palm Tree - THEY CANNOT GO BACK, or use a different interpretation elswhere. They will fear that the Palm Tree licensee will take them to court, if they do not treat all the licensees holding sessions, the same.

If they are still insisting that it does and before they do, I feel that you would need to find out from them, what the specific safety concern presented by this activity in this venue, that cannot be dealt with via the existing Justice's Licence.   

This you can do independently of the licensee. They have to state the grounds on which they are preventing the public's right of freedom of expression. Just the pub needing an additional licence, is not enough.