Agenda item

The Committee considered a report on the previously adopted Sex Establishment Licensing Policy, adopted by the Council on 1^st April 2016.

 

The Principal Officer (Licensing), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), introduced the report and in doing highlighted that where a Council had adopted such a policy that it was best practice to review the policy periodically.  The current policy was adopted in April 2016 and officers were of the view that the policy should now be reviewed.  A draft revised version of the policy was detailed at Appendix 2 to the report.

 

Members were informed that The Local Government (Miscellaneous

Provisions) Act 1982 (“the Act”), as amended, allowed local authorities to

adopt provisions concerning the regulation of sex establishments. Under the

Act there was no legal requirement for the Council to adopt a policy on how it

proposed to license sex establishments under the Act. However, it was

considered best practice for a Council to adopt such a policy to encourage

consistency and transparency in the way that its licensing functions were

carried out.

 

Members’ attention was drawn to the Service / Operational Implications, as detailed on pages 8 and 9 of the main agenda report.

 

The Principal (Licensing) Officer, WRS highlighted that, as detailed in the

preamble above and in the report, that since the existing policy had been in

place for more than six years, officers considered that now would be an

appropriate time for the policy to be reviewed and for a revised version of the

policy to be adopted.

 

Officers had therefore reviewed the existing policy and a draft revised version

was attached at Appendix 2 to the report.  The draft revised version had been

highlighted to show where the document had been revised from the current

policy.

 

The majority of the revisions were minor in nature and had been made to ensure

that the document was up to date; and as clear and easy to understand as was 

possible.

 

The draft revised policy had been amended to update the foreword at the

beginning of the document so that it reflected the current vision as set out in the

Council Plan.

 

The draft revised policy had also been updated to reflect the renaming of the

Local Safeguarding Children Board as Worcestershire Safeguarding Children

Partnership.

 

The level of fines applicable in respect of various offences set out in the relevant

legislation had been amended to reflect changes made to these since the

current policy was approved.

 

Officers are now asking Members to direct them to carry out consultation with

relevant stakeholders and the general public on the draft revised policy shown

at Appendix 2 to the report.

 

Members were further informed that, following consultation, any responses

received would be brought back to a future meeting of the Committee for

Members to consider; with a view to adopting the revised policy.

 

Members thanked the Principal (Licensing) Officer, WRS for a detailed report

and for highlighting the amendments in the draft revised Sex Establishment

Licensing Policy, as detailed at Appendix 2 to the report; which had made it

easier to see the changes made.

 

In response to questions from Members, the Principal (Licensing) Officer, WRS

commented that there were no licensed sex establishments in the district. Any

new applications received would be brought before a Licensing Sub-

Committee to determine.  Licenses that had been granted and were called in

for review, would be delegated to officers to determine.

 

A brief discussion followed on the Mandatory Refusal of Applications, as

detailed in paragraph 3.3, on page 51 of the main agenda pack.  Councillor C.

A. Hotham questioned if the wording was relevant and should it be amended

now that we had left the EU. 

 

The Principal (Licensing) Officer, WRS agreed to amend the wording to

include reference only to the relevant legislation; Paragraph 12(1) of Schedule

3 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, so that

should Paragraph 12(1) be amended in the future (following our exit from the

EU) the policy would not have to be further amended to reflect this.

 

It was also agreed that, in order to avoid gender references, that the draft revised Sex Establishment Licensing Policy would be amended to include gender-neutral terms.     

 

RESOLVED that subject to the amendments, as detailed in the preamble

above that

 

a)            the Licensing Committee agrees that officers carry out consultation with relevant stakeholders and the general public on the draft revised Sex Establishment Licensing Policy, as detailed at Appendix 2 to the report; and

 

b)           that any responses received to the consultation be brought back to a future meeting of the Committee for consideration.