Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies from absence.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2024 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any disclosable pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interest in respect of matters contained in the agenda.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests.

There was no public participation.

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed

The Chief Executive submitted a report informing Committee of the requirement to review the Council’s Statement of Principles Gambling Act 2005 (“Act”) and seeking Committee’s authorisation to consult upon the draft policy.

There is a requirement to review and publish it at least every three years and Members were reminded that the Council’s current Statement of Principles was last reviewed in 2022.  It is due to be re-published by 3 January 2025 and will come into effect on 31 January 2024.

Members considered the revised Statement of Principles, which included an updated Local Area Profile.  It was noted that the to date, the Council’s policy has worked well, albeit with few applications for new licences having been made.  No complaints have been made about premises licensed to allow gambling.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

Approve the draft Gambling Statement of Principles detailed in Appendix 1 and 2 of the report and authorise the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to consult upon them between 9 September 2024 and 24 October 2024 and that the results of that consultation be reported back to Committee.

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed

The Chief Executive submitted a report asking Committee to consider the consultation documents issued by the Institute of Licensing, and to receive recommendations for response to the questions put by way of consultation.

Members were content with the officers’ views that the draft guidance could be approved in its current form.

RESOLVED THAT COMMITTEE:

1.         Determine that it is content with the draft guidance in its current form.

2.         Delegate authority to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to submit any response to the consultation on behalf of the Council.

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed

The Chief Executive submitted a report informing Committee of the notification by the Council’s appointed testing centre that they had  increased their fee for testing hackney carriages and private hire vehicles and to seek Committee’s views on whether they consider it still appropriate to have only one testing centre.

The independent garage had charged £20 for the last 26 years and Members considered the fee increase to £35 to be reasonable.  The Licensing Officer had not reported any adverse feedback to the increase and it was noted that it is still a lower fee than many other local authorities charge.

After consideration, given that if offers consistency, no concerns had been raised with the current system and there had been no complaints made by other garages, Members were content to continue with one testing centre.

Report of the Chief Executive enclosed

The Chief Executive submitted a report informing Committee of the results of an inspection of licensed private hire and hackney carriage vehicles.

It was noted that of the six vehicles inspected only one failed to meet the required standard.  The issue on the vehicle was then resolved the same day.

Minutes of the meeting dated 1 August 2024

The minutes of the Premises Licensee meeting held on 1^st August 2024 were noted.

There were no reports from representatives on outside bodies.

There are no items under this heading

There were no items under this heading.