Meeting documents

The Licensing Manager advised that the report requested permission to undertake a full 8 week consultation process on the proposed Statement of Principles (Gambling) 2016-2019 with the result of the consultation being reported back to the Licensing Committee on 13^th October prior to adoption by Council in December 2015.  The Statement would then become effective from 31^st January 2016.

The Licensing Officer outlined the major amendments which the new proposed Statement of Principles (Gambling) 2016-2019 contained as:-

·         Appendix E - the maps showing the index of multiple deprivation in the key towns of South Somerset.

·         Clarification of the fees to be charged to be published on the website.

·         Betting shops to display their rules in font size 11 as a minimum.

·         The local Childrens Safeguarding Board had said that whilst they would review the new Statement, they did not wish to undertake the role of statutory consultee for vulnerable children on individual applications.

·         Part 2 – the expectation to segregate class C and D gaming machines (children could only play on C class machines) and for staff training records to be kept.

·         Part 3 – applicants to undertake risk assessments in line with the criteria listed.

·         Part 4 – more detail on lotteries to assist the current system which was often incorrectly completed by small societies. Also, a new provision for the non-sale of tickets on the street.

·         Part 6 – the Human Rights Act – Bookmakers would be obliged to provide a single point of contact for Local Authorities for any compliance issues.

·         Appendix C – the list of consultees had been extended.

·         Appendix D – the cancellation of permits where the annual fee had not been paid by the due date be completed by officers. 

Members expressed concern at the local Childrens Safeguarding Board’s lack of concern or commitment to comment on individual applications and the Committee agreed that the Chairman would write to the Board to express the Committees concerns and remind them of their duty of care to vulnerable children. 

During discussion, Members also requested the following amendments to the proposed Statement of Principles:-

·         Appendix D – all fee setting should be agreed by the full Licensing Committee.

·         An explanation of Adult Gaming Centres to be included in the Glossary.

In response to questions from Members, the Licensing Manager and Licensing Officer confirmed that:-

·         The Government had recently relaxed their consultation guidance, but, it was still proposed to conduct an 8 week consultation process.

·         Premises license fees were set at 85% of the full fee as the Council could recover its costs and no more.  This was as agreed by the Somerset Officers Licensing group. 

·         SSDC had not yet received an application for a casino in the area.

·         The consultation period would not be complete before the publication of the Licensing Agenda in October and so a verbal update on the final consultation responses would be given at the meeting. 

The Licensing Officer also provided Members with an explanation on the various types of Licensed and Exempt lotteries with examples of each type.   The Licensing Manager said that despite providing a check list on the front of every lottery application form, the instances of correct returns was very low and in order to address this he was considering running training sessions for applicants and also having an on-line application form on the website which would not allow an applicant to proceed unless each field was completed correctly.

At the conclusion of the debate, Members were content to agree that officers carry out the necessary 8 week consultation process on the proposed Statement of Principles (Gambling) 2016-2019.