Agenda and draft minutes

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There were no declarations of interest made.

The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, 17 October 2023, were approved as a true record and signed by the Chair.

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Act and questioned if that could be changed anytime there was a new Government, which could affectively make the Policy out of date, and he was concerned that this could cause additional work for officers.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.   

The report of the Director – Neighbourhoods is attached

The Senior Licensing and Enforcement Officer introduced the report and advised that whilst there was no legal requirement for this Policy to be reviewed it was considered best practice to do so.

The Committee noted that most changes were small, apart from the changes related to conditions, which were attached to every license issued. Of those, the main change was the requirement for all ice cream traders to have a current DBS certificate, given their access to children. The other main change related to Nottingham Forest Football Club, where consent was required in a number of locations to trade on match days. Recently there were issues with the Take That concert, with traders continuing to trade outside of match days in those areas, so the conditions have been changed to say that if they wish to trade outside those designated match days, they must apply for a separate street trading consent. All the traders with consent, had to have a minimum 3 rating on food hygiene.

Councillor Simms asked if there was any cost in applying for an extra licence, how long it took and expressed concern that additional burden was being put on businesses. The Senior Licensing and Enforcement Officer stated that they would use the same consent, it would simply be modified and there would be no additional cost.

Councillor Chewings questioned why the Policy had been changed to only include ice cream traders, (re DBS requirements), and whilst he did not think that it should go back to covering everyone, he was concerned that other vendors who mainly had contact with children, were no longer covered by this, and he suggested that some alternative, broader wording was required. The Senior Licensing and Enforcement Officer agreed that previously parts of the Policy had placed an additional burden on street traders and advised that there was a declaration within the application asking traders if they had any unspent convictions, and if they did, they would be asked about them. He went on to advise that the Council did not regulate market traders, as they came under the Markets Charter; however, if there was a mobile street trader offering confectionary, they would be asked for a DBS certificate, and if necessary it would be put into the Policy.  Councillor Chewings asked for this to be added to the Policy now, and the Head of Public Protection stated that subject to the Committee’s approval that could be added.

Councillor Chewings proposed that the wording be changed from ice cream traders to “traders with the primary objective of selling to children….”  and this was seconded by Councillor Simms.

Councillor Simms stated that ex-offenders needed to work and asked where the bar was set, and what sort of offences would be unacceptable. The Senior Licensing and Enforcement Officer referred to the Fit and Proper Test used in taxi licensing, which took into account the history and types of convictions and advised that this was not currently part of this Policy, but that it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.