Agenda and draft minutes

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

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Thompson (no substitution).

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee, held on Wednesday, 31 January 2024.

It was moved by Councillor Davidson, seconded by Councillor Smith and:-

RESOLVED that the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on Wednesday, 31 January 2024, be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests of Non-Registerable Interests, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

Councillor Wiggens declared for the public record for transparency that she held a Personal Licence through the Council.

Councillor Smith also declared for the public record for transparency that he was a London Taxi driver but that he had no ties in that capacity to the District of Tendring.

Both Councillors remained during the entire meeting.

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.

On this occasion no Councillor had submitted a notice of a question.

The Committee will formally receive and note, for its information only, the minutes of the meeting of the Miscellaneous Licensing Sub-Committee held on Monday, 5 February 2024.

It was moved by Councillor Skeels, seconded by Councillor A Cossens and:-

RESOLVED that the Committee formally received and noted, for its information only, the Minutes of the meeting of the Miscellaneous Licensing Sub-Committee held on Monday, 5 February 2024.

The Committee will formally receive and note, for its information only, the minutes of the Premises/Personal Licences Sub-Committee meetings held on Monday, 29 January 2024 and Monday, 11 March 2024.

It was moved by Councillor A Cossens, seconded by Councillor Smith and:-

RESOLVED that the Committee formally received and noted, for its information only, the Minutes of the meetings of the Premises/Personal Licences Sub-Committee meetings held on Monday, 29 January 2024 and Monday, 11 March 2024.

The purpose of this report is to update Committee on the Schedule of Inspections carried out in 2023/24 and invite the Committee to consider the arrangements for routine inspections of licences, permits, consents etc within the scope of the Committee’s work. The Committee is asked to consider approving an updated Schedule for Inspections to be undertaken in 2024/25. Both the 2023/24 routine inspections detail and the proposals for 2024/25 are set out in Appendix A of the Officer report.

The Committee  was updated on the Schedule of routine licensing Inspections carried out in 2023/24 (to date) and the Committee  was invited to consider the arrangements for routine inspections of licences, permits, consents etc within the scope of the Committee’s work for 2024/25.

The report outlined that Tendring District Council was a Licensing Authority by virtue of separate legislative provisions relevant to the individuals licensing framework. As set out in those sperate provisions, the Council would determine its approach to ensuring that those who were licensed comply with the requirements of the licence, permit, notice, consent etc, concerned. Where the Licensing Authority takes enforcement action to ensure compliance with conditions etc. then it does so in accordance with the relevant legal framework and it would have due regard to the Licensing Service Enforcement policy and the Council’s overall Enforcement Policy.

After a brief discussion, it was moved by Councillor Bray, seconded by Councillor Wiggins and RESOLVED unanimously that the Committee:

(a)  notes the detail provided of routine licensing inspections carried out in 2023/24 as set out in this report;

(b)  endorses the schedule of routine inspections for 2024/25 as reflecting the need and frequency for routine inspections with a view to achieving compliance with licensing requirements within the remit of this Committee

(c)   notes that Officers will then make arrangements, within the available resource, to implement the endorsed routine inspection arrangements in 2024/25 and report on progress to this Committee in time for it to inform consideration of a revised schedule for 2025/26.

The Council is the licensing authority under the Licensing Act 2003 and exhibitions of film is one of the types of regulated activity requiring an authorisation from the Council under the Act. Most exhibitions of film have a classification to indicate the age restrictions that should apply to the exhibition of the individual film. In the UK the classification body is generally the British Board of Film Classification (the BBFC). However, not all films have a classification.

For this Council, there is currently no formal policy or procedure to deal with the classification of previously unclassified films as well as to deal with circumstances where there are appeals by distributors against the BBFC decisions or to reclassify films.

This report considers a proposed Film Classification Policy to be adopted. As a policy matter, in due course, any decision to adopt the policy will be a matter for the Council’s Cabinet (following a recommendation from this Committee).

Members heard how the Council was the licensing authority under the Licensing Act 2003 and exhibitions of film was one of the types of regulated activity requiring an authorisation from the Council under that Act. Most exhibitions of film have a classification to indicate the age restrictions that should apply to the exhibition of the individual film. In the UK the classification body was generally the British Board of Film Classification (the BBFC). However, not all films have a classification. For this Council, there was currently no formal policy or procedure to deal with the classification of previously unclassified films as well as to deal with circumstances where there were appeals by distributors against the BBFC decisions or to reclassify films. This report considered a proposed Film Classification Policy to be adopted. As a policy matter, in due course, any decision to adopt the policy would be a matter for the Council’s Cabinet (following a recommendation from this Committee).

The Members of the Committee had no questions for the Officers on this occasion.

After a short discussion it was moved by Councillor Casey, seconded by Councillor Wiggins and unanimously RESOLVED to approve, for an eight-week public consultation the draft policy for Film Classification (as attached to this report at Appendix A) and for the outcome of that consultation to be submitted to a future meeting of this Committee.

To enable the Committee to discuss fixing the date of its next meeting which is likely to be held in July 2024.

The Committee noted its intention to hold its next meeting in early July 2024.

[Note : Subsequent to the meeting this date was agreed as Monday 8 July 2024 (commencing at 6.30pm)]

The Committee is asked to consider passing the following resolutions:-

a)    “that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Agenda Item 11 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A, as amended, of the Act.” and,

b)    “that under Regulation 14 of the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005 the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Agenda Item 12 on the grounds that the public interest in so doing outweighs the public interest in that part of the hearing taking place in public.”

It was moved by Councillor Davidson, seconded by Councillor Smith and:-

RESOLVED that, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of Agenda Items 14 and 15 on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A, as amended, of the Act.

The Committee will formally receive and note, for its information only, the exempt minutes of the meeting of the Miscellaneous Licensing Sub-Committee held on Monday, 5 February 2024.

It was moved by Councillor Davidson, seconded by Councillor Smith and:-

RESOLVED that the exempt minutes of the meeting of the Miscellaneous Licensing Sub-Committee held on Monday, 5 February 2024 be formally received and noted.

The Committee will formally receive and note, for its information only, the exempt minutes of the meetings of the Premises/Personal Licences Sub-Committee held on Monday, 29 January 2024 and Monday, 11 March 2024.

It was moved by Councillor Davison, seconded by Councillor Smith and:-

RESOLVED that the exempt minutes of the meetings of the Premises and Personal Licences Sub-Committee held on held on Monday, 29 January 2024 and Monday, 11 March 2024 be formally received and noted.