Meeting documents

The Draft Sex Establishments Policy Statement had been presented to the Committee at the meeting on 2 December when it had been agreed for consultation with local businesses and other relevant bodies.  The Committee proceeded to go through the consultation responses and the amended Statement of Licensing Policy.  A version of the amended Policy showing the ‘tracked changes’ was circulated at the meeting.

A number of minor errors and formatting issues were noted in the Policy by Members.  The main points made by the Committee were as follows:

Section 2 - Waivers:

• It was agreed that the decision to grant a waiver should be delegated to a Licensing Sub Committee only when it was for a temporary period; such as a temporary relocation due to damaged premises.  Applications for a permanent waiver should be referred to the full Licensing and Regulation Committee.

Section 3 - Application Process:

• Appendix A, page 5, comments regarding Paragraph 3.5 should read “should exclude other means of providing contact information”.
• Regarding the size of newspaper public notices, the Committee agreed that the font size of lettering should be specified in order to ensure uniformity and that the notices were clearly legible.  Authority was delegated to the Head of Health and Housing to determine appropriate font sizes.
• Regarding paragraph 3.9 the Committee expressed concern regarding a sex establishment licence continuing after the expiry date provided that an application had been made prior to the expiry date.  However, it was noted that this was allowed in legislation.  The Head of Health and Housing advised that reminders would be sent out 28 days before the expiry date.  Further concern was raised regarding the transfer of licences.  It was suggested that both the new licence holder and the previous one be required to inform the licensing authority of the change, and that the new licence holder be required to go through the application process.  There was some confusion as to whether this was already stipulated in the legislation.  As such it was agreed that if already in the legislation this would be included in advisory information only; if it was not in the legislation authority was delegated to the Head of Health and Housing to determine the appropriate wording and to include it in the policy.
• Paragraph 3.3 to require as part of the application or renewal process that an Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check be undertaken annually.

Section 6 - Relevant Locality

• It was confirmed that the relevant local Town / Parish Council would be consulted regarding applications within their area.
• It was suggested that the licensing authority should stipulate where such premises should be located.  However, it was agreed that this was inappropriate and each application should be assessed on its own merits.

Appendix 5 - Licence Conditions

• To ensure consistency, Condition 35 was to be amended to reflect the font sizes specified for newspaper public notices; with authority delegated to the Head of Health and Housing.
• Authority was delegated to the Head of Health and Housing to re-word Condition 51 to ensure the inclusion of toilets.