Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Nigel Manning, Marsha Moseley and Tony Phillips.

In accordance with the revised local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must notparticipate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must also withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 27 September 2017.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 27 September 2017 were confirmed as a true record and were signed by the Chairman.

To receive any announcements from the Chairman of the Licensing Committee.

The Chairman reported that the meeting would be recorded for subsequent broadcast on the Council’s website.  The whole of the meeting would be recorded, except where there are confidential exempt items, and the footage will be on the website for six months.

If someone makes a representation to the meeting they will be deemed to have consented to being recorded.  By entering the meeting room they are also consenting to being recorded and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and / or training purposes.

The Committee to consider and recommend to Council the revision of the Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles 2016-2019  to include the Local Area Profile.

The Committee considered a report on a draft Local Area Profile for Guildford.  It was agreed, at its meeting in March, that the Local Area Profile would be consulted on for a period of three months.  The Gambling Commission Guidance advised that Local Authorities produce a Local Area Profile, which identified the risks associated with gambling in the area.

The Committee considered whether the report adequately explained how the adoption of a Local Area Profile would assist in the protection of young and vulnerable people and what the preventative controls to be adopted consisted of.  Specifically reference was made to paragraph 2.3 of the report, which stated that ‘An appropriate balance will help gambling businesses to develop successfully whilst providing assurance to the public and protecting children and vulnerable persons’.  The Committee raised a concern that the language used in paragraph 2.3, should have better reflected the Gambling Act 2005, which provides that local authorities shall aim to permit the use of premises for gambling, and that reference to helping the business to develop successfully did not reflect the meaning of the Act nor the spirit with which it was intended.  The Committee also queried the nature of the partnership and collaboration between the Council and the gambling industry and how that relationship assisted in the implementation of the Gambling Act 2005.  The nature of the risks referred to needed to be better explained as well as the nature of the mitigating measures that the Licensing Authority expect gambling enterprises to adopt.

The Licensing Team Leader confirmed that the purpose of the report was to introduce the Local Area Profile to the Committee.  During the development of the current Gambling Statement of Principles, the Gambling Commission updated its guidance to gambling businesses and produced a social responsibility code.  The gambling operators had to assess the local risks and have policies and procedures in place to mitigate against them.  Gambling businesses were obliged to conduct a risk assessment in line with the promotion of the licensing objectives.  The Licensing Team Leader explained that the Local Area Profile had previously been presented to the Licensing Committee on 27 (March 2017) and was approved for public consultation.  The aim of the Local Area Profile was to enable businesses to identify if their gambling premises were close to sensitive premises such as schools or support centres for vulnerable people and take steps to mitigate and control the risks.  The Committee were advised that the onus was on the Gambling operator to identity any risks associated with gambling at their premises and to take steps to mitigate these risks in order to promote the licensing objectives.  The Licensing Authority could inspect premises and take action in order to compel the business to comply with the licensing objectives, including prosecution or review of a licence.  The Licensing Team Leader clarified the wording of “partnership” which concerned the Committee, which that as a regulatory Local Authority there were various steps available to an Authority to  ...  view the full minutes text for item L15

The Committee to consider the proposed Policy for consultation so to obtain the views of interested parties and use these views to formulate any changes to the draft prior to adoption.

The Committee considered a report seeking approval of a new draft Charity Collections Policy for Guildford Borough to go to public consultation for a period of 12 weeks.  Currently the Council did not have a Policy covering Charitable Collections in the Borough.  Decisions on permit or licence applications such as refusing a House-to-House collection application due to insufficient amounts going to charity are based upon historical practices. 

Having considered the new draft Charity Collections Policy, the Committee

RESOLVED:

To approve the draft Charity Collections Policy to go to public consultation for a period of 12 weeks. 

Reason for Decision:

To obtain the views of interested parties on the proposed Policy and use these views to formulate any changes to the draft prior to adoption.

To consider the Licensing Committee Work Programme.

The Licensing Committee noted the work programme and received confirmation that the results of the Street Trading resolution consultation would be considered at its January meeting.