Meeting documents

To consider report.

The Committee considered a report from the Principal Lawyer and Practice Manager from Mendip District Council, Lesley Dolan, concerning the proposed functions for the new Licensing and Regulatory Committee to be adopted in the Constitution for the New Unitary Council.

During the debate, the following points were highlighted: -

·         Councillors queried several aspects of the procedures used for the Licensing and regulatory Sub-Committees.

The Licensing Officer advised that there would be a checklist for councillors to use during a sub-committee.  He further explained that the licensing officer and interested parties presented their case first and that the applicant went last, so that they could include in their presentation answers to any comments or questions raised by other parties.  Councillors had the opportunity to ask questions after each person had presented their case.

·         Councillors queried the calculation for the quorum of the committee.

The Monitoring Officer advised that quorum calculations were governed by statute.

·         Councillors queried the proposed delegation used for gambling applications.

The Licensing Officer advised that the delegation was governed by legislation.

·         Councillors queried when the applicant would be notified of the hearing date.

The Licensing Officer advised that the applicant received a notice of hearing once the date had been confirmed, plus a copy of the agenda once it was published five clear working days before the meeting.

·         Councillors queried the difference between the Licensing Sub-Committee and the Regulatory Sub-Committee.

The Licensing Officer advised that the Licensing Sub-Committee would be for applications under the Licensing Act 2003 and Gambling Act 2005, and that the Regulatory Sub-Committee would be for taxi licences and all other applications.

·         Councillors queried why the sub-committees were being scheduled into the calendar and not just held ad-hoc.

The Legal Officer advised that they believed it was best practice to schedule them in.

·         Councillors debated the location for the sub-committees, as some believed they should be held in the locale of the application and others believed it should be held in a central location.

·         Councillors who had experience in licensing hearings agreed that the procedure proposed within the papers worked well.

·         Councillors stressed that training would be vital for anybody who wished to sit on the Licensing Committee, along with any substitutes.

The Committee AGREED:-

2.1The proposals detailed in this report, offer a structure that would bring the County and District licensing functions together in a single Committee format.

The Constitution and Governance Committee was asked to –

(1)  Approve the proposals set out in paragraphs 2.2 to 2.8 below, in relation to revision of the Council’s Constitution.

2.2 It was proposed that a new Regulatory Committee be established to be known as the Licensing and Regulatory Committee for the discharge of the Council’s licensing, certification and registration functions to include matters presently set out in paragraphs (d)-(m) of the terms of reference of the County Council’s Regulation Committee.

2.3 It is proposed that the new Licensing and Regulatory Committee would establish a standing Sub-Committee to be known as the Regulatory Sub-Committee, to consider and determine applications and/or matters that by law or in accordance with the Council’s adopted Policies or this Constitution required a hearing to be conducted.

2.4 It was proposed that the new Licensing and Regulatory Committee would establish a standing Sub-Committee to be known as the Licensing Sub-Committee, to consider and determine any applications and or/ matters that by law or in accordance with the Council’s adopted Licensing Policy and Gambling Statement of Principles or this Constitution required a hearing to be conducted.

2.5 A structure chart of the proposed new committees could be seen at Appendix 1 to this report.

2.6 Proposed Terms of Reference for the new Committee and its two Sub-Committees were set out at Appendix 2 to this report.

2.7 The proposed Scheme of Delegation for the licensing functions was set out at Appendix 3 to this report.

2.8 Attached at Appendix 4 was the proposed Hearing Procedure Rules for hearings conducted before the Licensing Sub-Committee. Whilst written for the Licensing Sub-Committee, they could be easily adapted for any licensing hearing. Following current common practice it was proposed to extract the Rules relating to "At Hearing" into a "tick box" list for the Chair to enable an easy single glance to ascertain where the procedure was at any stage of the hearing.