Issue - meetings

The report of the Director – Neighbourhoods is attached

The Senior Licensing and Enforcement Officer introduced the report and advised that as a Licensing Authority, the Council had to determine and publish its statement of principles every three years. The Committee was advised that there was very little change to the Policy, as a review of the Gambling Act was taking place, and all authorities had been advised to make the minimum changes required, as once the review was published, a change to guidance might take place. The Senior Licensing and Enforcement Officer advised that the only major change related to the Local Area Profile, as detailed at Section 2.2 of the Policy, to reflect changes to population densities and crime statistics.   

The Head of Public Protection clarified that the current Policy expired on 31 January 2025, so this new Policy needed to be endorsed by the Committee and then submitted to Council in December for approval. 

The Senior Licensing and Enforcement Officer confirmed that the Policy had been consulted on, with Appendix 1 detailing the list of bodies and organisations consulted, together with a list of the three consultation responses received as detailed at Appendix 3, which were read out in full to the Committee.

Councillor Chaplain referred to Section 2.10 of the Policy and supported the idea of including specific reference to information sharing, as she felt that although it was already covered, if you knew what was in the Act, it would be helpful.

Councillor Chewings stated that this was already defined in Schedule 6.1 of the Act and questioned if that could be changed anytime there was a new Government, which could affectively make the Policy out of date, and he was concerned that this could cause additional work for officers. The Senior Licensing and Enforcement Officer advised that it could change and confirmed that there was a provision to allow changes to be made throughout the three year period.

The Chair explained that the current list in the Policy was not exhaustive and felt that adding things would limit measures; however, it was for the Committee to decide.

The Senior Licensing and Enforcement Officer advised that annual inspections of gambling premises in the Borough were undertaken and he confirmed that they were all compliant and aware of regulations, and in answer to a question about undercover operations, it was confirmed that targeted test purchases were done.

It was RESOLVED that the Statement of Principles be endorsed and sent to Council for approval.