Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies and details of any substitutions.

Apologies were received from Cllrs Mike Hewitt, Leo Randall and Pip Ridout and from Tracy Daszkiewicz (Director – Public Health and Protection) and Ceri Williams (Head of Prevention from Harm).

Cllr Peter Evans was substituting for Cllr Mike Hewitt.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2018 (copy attached).

The Minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2018 were presented to the Committee.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2018 be approved and signed as a correct record.

The Chairman, Councillor Peter Hutton made the following announcement:

Update on Overview & Scrutiny Late Night Taxi Fares Task Group

The following update has been prepared by Henry Powell, Senior Scrutiny Officer - The task group held its first meeting on 31 July and discussed how it would address its terms of reference. It received evidence from members of the council’s licensing team, including comparisons between the maximum tariffs set by Wiltshire Council and those set by neighbouring local authorities. Initial comparisons with other local authorities’ tariffs suggest that Wiltshire’s are comparable until 1.00am, but then rise steeply and can be as much as double those in some neighbouring areas.

Key discussion points:

• The current system was introduced by the Licensing Committee in 2014 in order to harmonise the different tariffs of the four district councils. It includes a single set of maximum tariffs that applies across the whole county.

• Members noted that the 2014 system followed consultation with the taxi trade, but not anyone else, e.g. representatives of the night-time economy (NTE). Members agreed to seek evidence from:

-       Taxi trade representatives

-       Salisbury Business Improvement District (BID)

-       Salisbury Chamber of Commerce

-       Pubwatch

-       Purple Flag (which includes representation from a number of other organisations)

-       Wiltshire Police

-       Licensing teams from neighbouring areas

• Members considered whether to engage with equivalent groups from other parts of the county e.g. Chippenham. However, it was believed that only Salisbury now has nightclubs (with Chippenham only now having bars) that open late into the night and the question of late-night tariffs was therefore significantly more relevant in that area.

• The task group agreed to meet again in Salisbury in September.

Licensing Events

Linda Holland (Licensing Manager) provided a verbal update on the activity of the Licensing Team and it was agreed that this update would be attached to the minutes as Appendix 1.

The Chairman wished to record his thanks to all the Licensing Officers for their work and support.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution.

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on Friday 24 August in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on Wednesday 29 August. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

No questions had been submitted to the Committee from the public prior to the meeting.  There was one member of the public present to observe from the Wiltshire Times.  

To receive and sign the minutes of the following Licensing Sub Committee:

Western Area

09/07/18       Application for a Premises Licence – The Toast Office, 116 Top                 Lane, Whitley, Melksham

Western Area

09/07/18       Application for a Premises Licence – The Toast Office, 116 Top                  Lane, Whitley, Melksham

Resolved:

That the Minutes of the meeting detailed above be approved and signed as correct records by the Chairman.

The Chairman wished to thank all Officers for the support received for Licensing Sub Committee hearings and for the Councillors that had sat on the hearings.  A Councillor asked if more hearings were coming through and Linda Holland (Licensing Manager) reported that her Officers were pro-active in resolving concerns raised by those who make relevant representations, often resulting in hearings not being required.

The report of Linda Holland (Licensing Manager – Public Health and Protection) asks the Licensing Committee to note the consultation undertaken and subsequent amendments made to the Council’s revised Statement of Gambling Principles (in relation to the Gambling Act 2005).  The Committee is also asked to commend the document to Full Council for approval at its meeting on 16 October 2018.

Linda Holland (Licensing Manager) referred to the report circulated with the Agenda which asked the Committee to note the consultation that was undertaken and the subsequent amendments that were made to the Council’s revised Statement of Gambling Principles.  Linda highlighted the following:

·                Following the last Committee meeting in June, a statutory consultation was carried out during which two responses were received – one from Wiltshire Council Planning Department (Responsible Authority) who requested additional wording in the document which sought to advise licence holders to seek planning guidance on any proposed changes to their building.  The other response was from William Hill questioning the interpretation of Significant Change in relation to the Local Area Risk Assessment and remarking on an omission in the wording of section 5.2.1;

·                Following the responses received, changes were then made to the Statement of Gambling Principles and that is now before the Committee;

·           The Military were not consulted on this document because they are not a Responsible Authority and this was not a public consultation. As a licensing authority, we have had no issues with Military Personnel and our Gambling Premises within Wiltshire; therefore there has been no need for us to specifically engage with the Military in relation to the Statement of Principles. If this changed however we would of course consider the need to do so;

·         The amendments of the document from the previous one for 2016 – 2018 were;

o   A change to the layout of the document to make it flow better

o   Addition of the Public Health and Money Laundering Section

o   Stronger and larger section on Social Responsibility

o   Inclusion of the Local Area Risk Assessment as the main document not an appendix.

o   Making the Local Area Profile an Appendix with more info that can be required instead of all needing to be requested

·                Once approval from the Committee for the Statement of Principles is obtained, this would then be put forward to Full Council in October 2018 for final ratification.  The Statement would then commence from January 2019.

The Chairman thanked Officers for the preparation of the document and commended its approval.

Resolved:

That the Licensing Committee notes the amendments made to the Statement of Gambling Principles and commends the final version of the Statement of Gambling Principles in relation to the Gambling Act 2005 to Full Council for approval at its meeting on 16 October 2018.

Members are asked to note the future meetings of the Licensing Committee, all to commence at 10.30am:

3 December 2018

11 March 2019.

Members noted the date of future meetings of the Licensing Committee as detailed below, all to start at 10.30am-

3 December 2018

11 March 2019

3 June 2019.

The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018

Linda Holland (Licensing Manager) wished to give pre-warning to the Committee of animal welfare legislation that was due to come into force on 1 October 2018.  A large guidance document was issued to the Local Authority at the end of July which gave details of the changes that are being made to improve the effectiveness of existing regulations and to simplify the application and inspection process for businesses as well as maintaining and improving existing animal welfare standards. All previous animal legislation relating to dog boarding, dog breeding, sale of pets, hiring out horses and exhibiting animals would cease from 1 October. 

This change would bring a significant increase in workload to the Licensing Team as new licenses would be granted on a risk rating basis for a period of 1 – 3 years and each premise would receive a 1-5-star rating (as food premises currently do).

Linda would prepare a briefing note for all members as it was anticipated that there would be a lot of enquiries in relation to this.  Wiltshire currently has 269 establishments.  Linda was in the process of arranging three seminars across the county to inform on the new legislation.  This would be to advise on changes and answer any questions.

Venues and times as follows:-

• County Hall, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, BA14 8JN - 9th October 2018 - 6pm to 8pm.  Book here
• Monkton Park, Chippenham, SN15 1ER - 10th October 2018 - 6pm to 8pm Book here
• The Old Fire Station, Salt Lane, Salisbury, SP1 1DU - 15th October 2018 - 6pm to 8pm Book here

Linda was currently working on setting up the fee structure and a full report on the implications of the legislation would be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.  It was also agreed that a Chairman’s announcement would be drafted for circulation at all upcoming Area Board meetings.