Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of Licensing and Appeals Committee held on 28 September 2017

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Appeals Committee held on 28 September 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive the Minutes of the meetings of the Licensing and Appeals Committee sitting as a Panel held on the following dates:

4 October 2017

26 October 2017

17 November 2017 (To Follow)

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meetings of the Licensing and Appeals Committee sitting as a Panel held on 4 October, 26 October and 17 November 2017 be received and noted.  

The report of the Director of Central Services and Monitoring Officer set out details of the proposed scale of fees and charges for 2018/19 in respect of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licences, Pleasure Boats and Boatmen, Scrap Metal Dealers, Animal Licensing, Street Trading Consents and Sex Establishments.

RESOLVED:  That the proposed scale of fees for licences, consents and registrations, as set out in Annex 1 to the report, be adopted with effect from 1 April 2018. 

The report of the Director of Central Services and Monitoring Officer gave details of a Government consultation on proposals relating to gaming machines and social responsibility measures.  It was noted that the number of licences for betting shops in the Borough had remained stable at 10 for many years and no complaints had been received by the Licensing team. 

A summary of the questions posed in the consultation had been circulated to Members and responses received in relation to the maximum stakes and prizes, allocation of gaming machines permitted in licensed premises and social responsibility measures for the whole industry were collated for discussion.  The Committee endorsed the comments made and considered the need to regulate repeat betting and the frequency of visits to betting shops.  Reference was also made to the possibility of reducing advertising and placing a “health warning” on every machine and increasing the levy on premises outside betting shops which had gaming machines.  Members were invited to submit any further comments to enable a final response to be produced in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

RESOLVED:  That the report be received and noted and a response be finalised in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

The Chairman to move that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting during consideration of any items the publication of which would disclose exempt information.

There were no items considered in private.