Meeting documents

SSDC Licensing Committee
Tuesday, 11th August, 2015 10.00 am

Venue: Council Chamber B, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil BA20 2HT

Contact: Jo Morris, Democratic Services Officer  01935 462055 e-mail:  jo.morris@southsomerset.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

10.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Previous Meeting held on 9th June 2015

Minutes:

The minutes of the Licensing Committee held on Tuesday 9th June 2015, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman subject to the following amendments:-

·         Add Councillor Peter Gubbins (Portfolio Holder) to the list of attendees

·         Add Colin Chown, Enforcement Officer to the list of officers.

11.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jenny Kenton and Wes Read, David Recardo, Linda Vijeh and Peter Gubbins (Portfolio Holder). 

12.

Declarations of Interest

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (adopted July 2012), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting. A DPI is defined in The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012 No. 1464) and Appendix 3 of the Council’s Code of Conduct.  A personal interest is defined in paragraph 2.8 of the Code and a prejudicial interest is defined in paragraph 2.9. In the interests of complete transparency, Members of the County Council, who are not also members of this committee, are encouraged to declare any interests they may have in any matters being discussed even though they may not be under any obligation to do so under any relevant code of conduct.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made. 

13.

Public Participation at Committees

a)    Questions/comments from members of the public

This is a chance for members of the public and representatives of Parish/Town Councils to participate in the meeting by asking questions, making comments and raising matters of concern.

Minutes:

There were no members of the public present.

14.

Draft Statement of Principles (Gambling) 2016 - 2019 pdf icon PDF 156 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

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 13th October prior to adoption by Council in December 2015.  The Statement would then become effective from 31st 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  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

15.

Date of Next Meeting pdf icon PDF 17 KB

Minutes:

Members noted that the next meeting of the Licensing Committee would be held on Tuesday 13th October 2015 at 10.00am at the Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil.