Agenda and minutes

To receive declarations of interest from Members on items contained within the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest stated.

To consider the minutes of the Sub-Committees held since the last meeting of the Licensing Committees.

Resolved:     That the mintues of the sub-committee meetings be noted.

A report was submitted for Members to consider whether the Special Saturation Policy - agreed at the Committee’s meeting held on 30th July 2014 was still required.

Members considered the current Policy and the presentation provided by the Police Inspector. Members queried whether statistics were available that showed the age breakdown of those committing the crimes; this information was not available but could be brought to a future meeting if required.

One Member stated that they had recently been out with the police and had been very impressed with how they were able to calm people down.

Resolved:

a)    That the saturation policy should be retained

b)    That the saturation policy was adequate

c)    That the saturation policy be reviewed in 12 months time.

A report was submitted requesting members to consider and agree upon the consultation process for the Council’s Licensing Policy.

Under Section 5 of the Licensing act 2003, the Council had a statutory duty to review its Licensing Policy every five years, the current policy is due to expire in December 2015.

Resolved:

1.         That the Licensing Policy for Newcastle under Lyme be sent out for an eight week consultation period from 1st August 2015.

2.         That the attached document relating to Child Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking / Modern Slavery be sent out as part of the consultation process.

3.         That the Consultees for the Gambling Policy be agreed.

4.         That the documentation for the consultation be agreed.

5.         That the responses to the consultation be brought back to the meeting of the committee on 22nd October 2015.

7.         That the updated Policy be presented for approval to Full Council at its meeting on Wednesday 25th November 2015.

Members considered the proposals and recommended:

That the Public Protection Committee and the Licensing Committee should not be merged nor should meetings of the Committees run one after the other.

The Committee considered advice provided by James Button which stated that the correct approach was to have 2 licensing committees and that using one committee for both was not lawful.

Members considered that having one committee constituted of the same members would put significant pressure on those members to receive training and to be sufficiently competent in dealing with the various pieces of legislation covering the different committees. Having both meetings at the same time would also put additional pressure on officers to prepare reports.

Both Committees dealt with important issues that affected peoples’ livelihoods and the safety of the residents of the Borough, to have one meeting after the other on the same day could lead to errors in judgement and very lengthy meetings. 

To consider any business which is urgent within the meaning of Section 100B (4) of the Local Government Act 1972

There was no urgent business.