Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor R. J. Deeming be elected Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing municipal year.

The Chairman opened the meeting and advised all those present that arrangements had been made to ensure that the meeting was held in accordance with social distancing requirements and Government guidance in respect of holding meetings at a physical location.

RESOLVED that Councillor P. J. Whittaker be elected Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing municipal year.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P. M. McDonald, C. J. Spencer and M. Thompson.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee held on 15^th March 2021 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Licensing Committee held 15^th March 2021, be approved as a correct record.

The Committee considered a report which detailed the Gambling Act – Review of the Statement of Principles.  Members were asked to approve the draft revised Statement of Principles for the purpose of consultation with relevant parties. .

The Principal Officer (Licensing), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), introduced the report and in doing so informed the Committee that the Council’s current Statement of Principles under the Gambling Act 2005 had taken effect on 31^st January 2019.

In accordance with the provisions of the Act, the Council was required to determine and publish a Statement of Principles every three years.  Therefore, a new Statement of Principles must be published by 31^st January 2022.

The last revision of the Statement of Principles during 2018 had involved the Council significantly enhancing the content of the statement to provide more comprehensive information on how the Council approached its roles and responsibilities in relation to the various permits and small lotteries that it was responsible for administering and monitoring.

Since the Statement of Principles was revised during 2018, there had been no significant amendments to the provisions of the Gambling Act 2005.  Nor had there been any major changes made to the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) that licensed operators had to comply with or the Gambling Commission’s statutory Guidance to Licensing Authorities (GLA).

In light of this, only minor revisions had been included in the draft Statement of Principles, at Appendix 1 to the report.

These minor revisions had included updating the introduction section of the Statement to reflect the current Council Plan and the strategic purpose and priorities it had identified.  The introduction section has also been updated to reflect the more recent estimates of the population of the District.

The draft Statement had also been revised to nominate the Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership as the body competent to advice the Council on matters relating to the protection of children from harm.  This was because the Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership had replaced the previously nominated Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Board.

The list of consultees shown at Appendix B to the report, had also been updated to reflect changes to some of the Gambling Trade Associations and to include additional organisations involved in working with people who had experienced problems with gambling.

Consultation on the revised draft Statement of Principles would take place with all of the relevant parties, which would include those detailed in paragraph 3.15 of the report.   The consultation would be carried out over a period of six to eight weeks.  Any responses received to the consultation would be presented to a future meeting of the Licensing Committee.

The Principal Officer (Licensing), WRS, responded to questions from Members with regard to Wythall and Alvechurch being included in the introduction under urban areas.  Members were informed that the information in the introduction had only been changed to include the update on population figures.  Other Members commented that Wythall and Alvechurch were not urban areas.

The Principal Officer (Licensing), WRS,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6/21

RESOLVED that the Licensing Committee Work Programme 2021/2022, be noted.