Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

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.

Councillors C. A. Hotham and H. D. N. Rone-Clarke asked for it to be noted that with regard to Agenda Item Number 5 (Minute No. 42/23), Gambling Act 2005 – Review of Statement of Principles; that they both attended Barnt Green Social Club.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 12^th January 2024 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 12^th January 2024, be approved as a correct record.

The Committee received an update report with regard to representations or objections received to the advertisement of the proposal to amend the District Council of Bromsgrove (Hackney Carriage Stands) Order 2020 (No.1). 

The Principal Officer (Licensing), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), reminded Members that: -

On 12^th January 2024, Licensing Committee Members had instructed officers

to carry out the required consultation and to arrange for the required public

notice to appear in a local newspaper; of the proposal to amend the District Council of Bromsgrove (Hackney Carriage Stands) Order 2020 (No.1). 

Licensing Committee Members had also agreed that should any representations or objections to the proposal be received, that these would be brought back before Licensing Committee Members for consideration before a decision was taken about whether to proceed with the amendment being made to the Order.

The advertisement of the proposal was now completed and one representation had been received, as detailed at Appendix 4 to the report.

The representation questioned the process that was followed to advertise

the proposed changes.  The representation also questioned what impact the

proposed changes would have on buses and those that use them, asserting

that Crown Close was a very busy area.

The Principal Officer (Licensing) WRS, reassured Members that, as

detailed in the report; that the advertising of the proposed changes had been

carried out in accordance with the requirements of section 63 of the Local

Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

Members were further informed that officers had been advised that providers

of bus services had been consulted with on the proposed changes by relevant

officers at Worcestershire County Council and that no objections had been

raised.

No objections or representations had received from West Mercia Police in

respect of the proposed changes.

Officers believed that making the proposed change to the stand for hackney

carriages would not unreasonably prevent access to any premises and would

not impede the use of any points authorised for the taking up or setting down

of passengers by a local service or PSV operator’s licence.

The following Appendices were also included with the report: -

In response to several questions from Committee Members, with regard to public safety and potential passengers getting into a hackney carriage that was ranked on the proposed fifth taxi rank space.  The Principal Officer (Licensing), WRS, commented that this should not create as issue.; as passengers using the rank would be expected to use the hackney carriage that was ranked in the first space. 

Some Members reiterated this and agreed that passengers would use the hackney carriage ranked in the first space, and should any passengers try and access a hackney carriage  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41/23

The Committee considered a report which detailed the Gambling Act – Review of Statement of Principles.  Members were asked to approve the draft revised Statement of Principles, as attached at Appendix 1 to the report; for the purpose of consultation with relevant parties, as detailed on page 30 of the main agenda report.

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 2022.

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 2025.

Members’ attention was drawn to paragraph 3.9 in the report, which detailed that in April 2023, the government published a long awaited white paper entitled ‘High Stakes: Gambling Reform for Digital Age’, following the review of the Government Act 2005 that was first launched in December 2020.

The white paper contained a number of proposals for reforming gambling

regulation in the following areas:

·           Online protections – players and products

·           Marketing and advertising

·           The Gambling Commission’s powers and resources

·           Dispute resolution and consumer redress

·           Children and young adults

·           Land-based gambling

Whilst many of the proposed reforms were not directly relevant to the role that

the Council played in the regulation of gambling activities, there were some

proposed changes that were directly relevant.  These included:

·         Proposals to relax the rules on the split of low and medium maximum stake machines in certain licensed gambling premises.

·         A review of the premises licence fees cap for local authorities.

·         Introducing new powers to local authorities to conduct cumulative impact assessments for gambling premises.

·         Proposals to change the rules that allow under 18s to play Category D gaming machines that pay cash prizes.

·         Proposals to make provisions within the Gambling Commission’s code of practise on the siting of gaming machines in licensed premises legally binding.

Following the publication of the white paper, several different consultations were undertaken by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Gambling Commission concerning the various proposals for legislative reform.

At this stage however, it was unclear as to when the government would bring forward the required legislation to implement the proposed reforms. 

This presented something of a dilemma for licensing authorities such as Bromsgrove District Council, as they were required before each successive three-year period, to prepare and publish a Statement of Principles that they proposed to apply in exercising their functions under the Act during that period.  The Council’s next Statement of Principles needed to be prepared and published before 31^st January 2025.

As the timescales for legislation to be brought forward were unclear at this

stage, officers were recommending that no substantive changes be made to

the Statement of Principles at the present time and therefore very few changes

were proposed in the draft Statement of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42/23

The Committee considered the Work Programme for 2023/2024. 

Councillor D. Hopkins briefly explained that having chaired a recent Licensing Sub-Committee (Taxi) Hearing, several questions were raised with regards to the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy , with regard to the renewing of a vehicle licence for Hackney Carriage vehicles that had been graded as Category ‘C’ and ‘S’ write offs for insurance purposes.

Due to a change in the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy in September 2022, vehicles previously licensed by the Council, were now having to come before Sub-Committee Members for their renewal applications to be considered.  The taxi trade had commented that this was unfair to drivers who had already had their applications approved under the Council’s previous policy.

Therefore, could it be included on the Licensing Committee Work Programme 2024/2025, for Members consideration.  Giving Members the opportunity to look at the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy wording with regard to vehicles that were graded as Category ‘C’ and ‘S’ write offs; and to consider introducing ‘Grandfather’ rights’.

On being put to the vote, it was

RESOLVED that the Licensing Committee Work Programme for 2024/2025, be updated to include the item discussed and agreed, as detailed in the preamble above.

There were no Enforcement / Appeals updates.