Meeting documents

CHILTERN DISTRICT COUNCIL

MINUTES of the Meeting of the

LICENSING AND REGULATION COMMITTEE

held on 20 JULY 2006

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were received from Councillors Miss P Appleby, J Banham, D Lacey and Mrs P Lindsley.

8.      MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 June 2006 having been circulated, were agreed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

9.     DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

No declarations of interest were made.

The Minutes and Resolution of the meeting of the Licensing Sub Committee held on 25 January 2006, previously circulated, were submitted and approved.

The Gambling Act 2005 required local authorities to prepare and publish a Statement of Principles for determining applications, and required it to be published before the authority carried out any function under the Act.

A draft Statement of Principles was presented to the Executive at their meeting on 3 July 2006 (Minute 35 refers).  The Executive had agreed to begin a three month consultation period on the policy to enable the Statement to be published 28 days before the Gambling Act came into force on 31 January 2007.  This would enable comments from the Community and Environment Overview Committee, and the Licensing and Regulation Committee to be incorporated prior to a final report going to the Executive in November 2006.  The final draft of the Statement of Principles would then be presented to Full Council for approval in December 2006.

The Licensing Officer noted that the Statement of Principles remained at first draft stage since relevant guidance from the Gambling Commission was still outstanding.  The Statement of Principles would be amended accordingly once guidance was received.

Councillor Schofield noted that both Operators Licenses and Personal Licenses would be issued by the Gambling Commission.  However, responsibility for the issue of Premises Licenses would lie with local authorities.  The Licensing Officer confirmed that the Act also incorporated lotteries and raffles, whilst Temporary Use Notices could be applied for, for one-off events.

The Gambling Act contained three licensing objectives which would underpin the functions that the Commission and licensing authorities would perform:

The Licensing Officer reported that the licensing objectives identified did not make it easy for the Environmental Health department to make representations.  However, in contrast to the Licensing Act 2003, Members would be able to make representations if the application was within their ward.

The tight timescale for implementation of the Act had been recognised by the Local Government Association (LGA) and by the Local Authorities Coordinating Office on Regulatory Services (LACORS), who had lobbied for an extension.  As things stood, the Licensing Officer confirmed that the only way to get the Statement of Principles published for January had been to initiate the consultation process.

Concern was expressed that the Council were consulting on only a draft Statement of Principles, which could change significantly when further guidance was issued by the Gambling Commission.  The Committee did not wish to see resources expended twice should the implementation date be delayed.

The Committee expressed concerns that door supervisors at casinos and bingo premises were not required to be approved by the Security Industry Authority (SIA).  In the opinion of the Committee this appeared to conflict with the licensing objective of protecting children and vulnerable persons from harm.  In contrast, the Licensing Act 2003 had required that all door staff were SIA approved.  The Licensing Officer confirmed that the draft Statement of Principles did recommend that all door staff were SIA approved.  The questionnaire accompanying the draft Statement had requested feedback on this policy.  Regarding the questionnaire, it was noted that question eight needed to be amended to include the correct paragraph reference.

Members were concerned about the impact on the social environment, and about the cost implications to the Council of implementing the Gambling Act 2005.  The introduction of the Licensing Act 2003 had impacted hugely on the Council’s resources, and whilst no guidance on fees had yet been received, Members had concerns whether the fees when determined by the Gambling Commission would be sufficient to make the Act self-financing.

It was clarified that the Secretary of State would set bands of fees with a prescribed maximum for premises licences.  Local authorities would then set the precise fee for each licence within these bands so as to recover the costs incurred for the issue of the licence and its associated functions.  The fee bands would provide consistency of approach across the country and enable local variations in costs to be taken into account.  The Head of Legal Services confirmed that the setting of fees was an Executive function at Chiltern District Council.  The Committee noted the need for the Executive to ensure that the fees set would make the Gambling Act self-financing.  It was agreed that a report outlining proposed fees be presented to the Licensing and Regulation Committee for comment before going to the Executive.  The Executive Portfolio Holder for Environmental Management was in attendance and confirmed that the Executive would welcome comments from the Licensing and Regulation Committee.

It was agreed that the Licensing Officer would contact the local Magistrates - who presently administered the system – to determine the number of applications that were processed, the fees levied, and the costs involved.  To ensure a consistent approach it was further agreed that this be done in conjunction with other local authorities in Buckinghamshire with a view to jointly recommending proposed bands of fees to the Gambling Commission.  Feedback on the approaches taken by local authorities neighbouring Buckinghamshire would also be sought.  The Licensing Officer confirmed that there was a meeting of the Licensing Officers in Buckinghamshire on 1 August 2006, and the issue would be raised there.

Note: Councillor K Miles left the meeting at 7.10 p.m.

The meeting closed at 7.12pm