Agenda and minutes

The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors V Guglielmi, J Henderson, Watson and Whitmore, with no substitutions.

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee, held on 18 July 2018.

The signing of the minutes of the previous meeting was postponed to occur at the next meeting of the Committee on 30 January 2019.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Personal Interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were none.

Subject to providing two working days’ notice, a Member of the Committee may ask the Chairman of the Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Tendring District and which falls within the terms of reference of the Committee.

There were none.

The Committee is to receive and note, the information only, the minutes of the meetings of the Premises/Personal Licences Sub-Committee held on 3 August 2018 and 14 September 2018.

The Committee received and noted, for information only, the minutes of the meetings of the Premises / Personal licences Sub-Committee held on 3 August 2018 and 14 September 2018.

Councillor White raised the question of whether officers could provide more information, during the next training session, on how to proceed with cases where there is an overlap between licensing and planning permission.

Details of Licences that have been approved under Delegated Powers during the period 12 June 2018 to 22 October 2018 are submitted for the Committees information.

The Committee noted the contents of a report (A.1) on the number of applications approved under delegated powers as at 22 October 2018, which was submitted for information only.

The Committee had before it a report which asked it to consider the responses received from the public consultation that had taken place for the review of the Councils statement of Gambling Policy and decide whether to amend its draft policy in light of the responses received before agreeing a final policy and recommending its adoption by the full Council. The draft policy had been approved by the Committee at its meeting on 18 July 2018.

The Licensing Manager (Karen Townshend) reported that the draft policy went out to public consultation for a period of twelve weeks from the 1 August to the 24 October 2018. This had encompassed and engaged a large and diverse range of consultees, such as faith groups, local schools, Children’s Safeguarding service, voluntary groups, premises licence holders, business representatives, betting and gambling representatives and organisations that work with problem gamblers like Gamblers Anonymous to seek a wide variety of comment and views on the revised draft policy. A list of those groups, agencies, authorities, organisations and businesses who were written to was detailed on page 25 of the revised draft policy.

After some deliberation amongst the Committee, it was moved by Councillor White and Seconded by Councillor Amos and RESOLVED that;

a)    The final draft statement of Gambling Policy attached to this report which includes any amendments thought necessary to the policy after consideration of the consultation responses received;

b)    That the Chairman of the Licensing Committee recommends this final draft of the revised policy to Full Council for adoption by the Council at its meeting 22 January 2019 and its publication in accordance with the timetable previously agreed by members at their meeting of the 18 July 2018;

c)    That any future amendments to the revised adopted and published policy that are minor or administrative only in nature can be delegated to the head of Customer and Commercial services and the Licensing Manager in consultation with the Chairman and/or the Vice Chairman of the Licensing and Registration Committee; without the need to publicly consult again or readopt the policy by the Committee and Full Council.

The Committee had before it a report which asked it to consider whether it is reasonable to allow a reduced annual licence fee to be charged in respect of lower emission vehicles and, if so, agree that this review should be subject to public consultation and scrutiny.

Mr Colin Bennet submitted the request for the Council to consider a reduced annual licence fee to be charged, as an incentive to help contribute towards reducing greenhouse gas emission and air pollution on our roads. Mr Bennet was invited by the Chairman to discuss his request with the Committee.

After much deliberation by the Committee, it was moved by Councillor Callender and seconded by Councillor Winfield and RESOLVED that;

a)    Members are asked to give their view as to whether they consider it appropriate to encourage greater use of environmentally friendly (lower emission) vehicles as Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicles, by extending the life of the vehicle from 12 to 13 years on the condition that the vehicle is in good condition as inspected by the Council’s Mechanics.

b)    If Members agree with (a) above, public consultation is undertaken over a 28 day period, and the results reported back to Members for definitive decision at the next scheduled meeting.