Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Simon Coles, Tony Robbins and Diogo Rodrigues.

To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The personal interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.)

Councillorspresent atthe meetingdeclared thefollowing personalinterests in their capacity as a Councillor of a Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-

The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, please see details under ‘click here to join online meeting’.

No questions or statements had been received for Public Question Time.

The purpose of the report is for the Committee to permit the Draft Statement of Licensing Policy be available for consultation as required by the Licensing Act 2003.

The Senior Licensing and Business Support Officer, Jack Godley, presented his report on the draft Licensing Policy and explained the consultation process to be followed.

During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

·       Councillors queried at what point during the consultation period, could Committee Members submit their comments.

The Senior Licensing and Business Support Officer advised that anybody could comment at any stage of the consultation.

·       Councillors requested clarification on the process.

The Senior Licensing and Business Support Officer advised that he hoped that the consultation would go live on Wednesday 17 May and would be open for comment for six weeks.  Once the consultation has closed, the responses would be collated and presented to the Licensing and Regulatory Committee and if no changes were required, the Policy would be taken to Full Council for approval.  He advised that the consultation period had been amended from eight weeks to six to allow for the Policy to be taken to Full Council in July 2023.  He further explained that as part of the transitional arrangements for the New Council, both the Licensing and Gambling Policies needed to be in place within the first year of operation.

Resolved that the Licensing and Regulatory Committee agreed to permit the Draft Statement of Licensing Policy be available for consultation as required by the Licensing Act 2003.