Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 22 September 2015.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2015 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to the inclusion of the following note:

To ensure consistency in the spelling of the word ‘council’ (to use a capital C or otherwise).

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any Personal, Disclosable Pecuniary or other interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest received.

Purpose: To determine a draft Statement of Licensing Policy on Gambling.

The Chairman highlighted that on page nine of the agenda pack ‘West Berkshire Council wording appeared as the logo of the organisation on the first page whilst the legal name in full was ‘West Berkshire District Council’ and was referred to in the body of the policy as ‘the Council’.

He invited comments from the officers regarding the consultation process that took place, the responses received and in particular regarding the letter from Field Seymour Parkes Solicitors to further understand the context.

Mr Leahy informed Members that a consultation process was conducted to consider the proposed new policy. The main changes included the reference to the Local Area Profiles and the Risk Assessments. The draft policy was produced by Emilia Matheou based on the previous policy but incorporating the guidance issued by the Gambling Commission’s Licensing Conditions and Codes of Practice

(LCCP) and the Local Government Association.

Mr Leahy confirmed that the responses to the consultation had resulted in five submissions, three accepting the new policy, a  fourth  received from Councillor Bridgman, that highlighted typographical errors and the use of defined terminology  and a fifth response that expressed concerns about the effect and purpose of a Local Area Profile.

Mr Leahy clarified that the introduction of the paragraph about the adoption of a Local Area Profile was to ensure the available guidance was being followed and to allow the option for the production of such a profile if at some point it was required.

Councillor Quentin Webb remembered that a similar matter was considered two years before and that the decision was that such a similar profile was not needed.

Mr Leahy confirmed that the Committee has considered a similar matter where Members were updated on the Late Night Levy and the Early Morning Restriction Orders under the Licensing Act 2003 as amended by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act. The Members decided that there was no need for either in West Berkshire. Mr Leahy clarified that the Local Area profiles were a recent introduction to the Gambling Act and the draft policy once adopted would allow the Committee to have regard to the latest guidance and ensure transparency to the public in terms of decisions adopted.

The Chairman suggested that the contact details in Appendix B for HM Revenue & Customs should be revised and agreed with the Members of the Committee that the reference to Newbury Racecourse being situated in the centre of Newbury (rather than East of the town or the centre of the district) could be maintained from the broader point of view of the message presented in Section 2 paragraph 2 of the draft Policy.

Councillor Jeanette Clifford enquired about the actual number of responses received.

Mr. Leahy expressed the view that given that the proposed changes were not significant and were based on the guidance, the level of response was similar to the national response rates.

Councillor Edwards requested clarification with regards to the requirements to complete risks assessments and if these were to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.