Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the meeting held on 12 April 2012 and the record of the Joint meeting of all Committees on 16 May 2012.

The record of the meeting held on 12 April 2012 and the record of the Joint meeting of all Committees held on 16 May 2012 were both agreed and signed by the chairman as correct. 

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Carr, Adrian Gulvin, Harriott, Kearney and Kemp. 

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none. 

A member need only disclose at any meeting the existence of a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) in a matter to be considered at that meeting if that DPI has not been entered on the disclosable pecuniary interests register maintained by the Monitoring Officer.

A member disclosing a DPI at a meeting must thereafter notify the Monitoring Officer in writing of that interest within 28 days from the date of disclosure at the meeting.

A member may not participate in a discussion of or vote on any matter in which he or she has a DPI (both those already registered and those disclosed at the meeting) and must withdraw from the room during such discussion/vote.

Members may chose to voluntarily disclose a DPI at a meeting even if it is registered on the council’s register of disclosable pecuniary interests but there is no legal requirement to do so.

There were none. 

To report back to the Committee with details relating to the proposal to set a limit on the number of venues which may be licensed as sexual entertainment venues within an area surrounding the historic part of Rochester High Street.

Discussion:

The Licensing and Local Land Charges Manager introduced the report advising that at the last meeting the Committee had agreed to instruct officers to report back with further details relating to a proposal to set a limit on the number of venues that may be licensed as sexual entertainment venues within an area to be determined within historic Rochester and/or High Street, Rochester.

The report set out two options for the Committee’s consideration, which was either to take no action and to continue to use the existing statement of policy to its full potential during the decision making process of all applications, or to determine the relevant area the restriction should apply to and the number of venues the restriction related to in order to commence the consultation in line with the timetable detailed in the report. In respect of the second option, three example areas had been appended to the report.

Members discussed the need to set an area with a limit for sexual entertainment venues in the historic part of Rochester, as there had been strong representations against both the previous applications, which had been granted, and a policy would strengthen the reason for refusal of any future applications, together with protecting the area for the future.

The Committee discussed the possible options for an area within historic Rochester and the High Street where the policy would apply and agreed that it would be sensible for this to correspond with the Conservation Area boundary, as shown in Appendix B.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to commence a six-week consultation on restricting the number of sexual entertainment venues within the Conservation Area of Historic Rochester (as shown on Appendix B of the report) to a maximum of two, in line with the following timetable:

·        six week consultation period from 30 July – 7 September 2012

·        Licensing and Safety Committee – 19 September 2012

·        Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee – 25 September

·        Council 18 October 2012

·        New Statement of Policy in use from 19 October 2012.

This report updates the Committee on work currently being carried out following changes in legislation requiring changes to be made to the Statements of Policy in respect of licensing and gambling.

Discussion:

The Licensing and Local Land Charges Manager introduced the report which sought authorisation to amend the Statements of Policy for both Licensing and Gambling in accordance with recent changes in legislation and guidance issued. The amendments would then be advertised and consulted upon with all relevant interested parties, including Councillors.

Members were advised that the results of both consultations would be reported back to the Committee, together with a revised version of the Statements of Policy, for recommendation to Cabinet and Full Council for approval in accordance with the following proposed timescales:

Gambling

·        12 week consultation period from 30 July – 22 October 2012

·        Licensing and Safety Committee – additional meeting required in November 2012

·        Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee – 6 December 2012

·        Cabinet – 18 December 2012

·        Full Council – 24 January 2013

·        New Statement of Policy to be advertised 29 January 2013

·        New Statement of Policy in use from 26 February 2013.

Licensing

Provisional timetable – to take into account changes to legislation due later this year

·        6 week consultation period from 7 January – 19 February 2013

·        Licensing and safety Committee – additional meeting required in
March 2013

·        Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee – 20 March 2013

·        Cabinet – 16 April 2013

·        Full Council – 25 April 2013

·        New Statement of Policy in use from 1 May 2013.

Officers advised that the Gambling Policy was already due for renewal, as it was at the end of its three year duration. However, the Licensing Policy had previously been agreed in January 2011 and was due to run for three years, so this request was for an early review of the policy due to the legislative changes made in April 2012 and more expected in October 2012.

The Committee discussed the announcement that had been made earlier in the day with regard to changes to the gambling laws and asked whether this would involve a further review of the council’s Gambling Policy in the near future. Officers advised that this would depend on what the changes were and how the policy was worded for that activity, for example if there were changes to the limit of gaming machines within a premise, the wording in the council’s policy did not specify the number of machines, so no revision would be necessary.

Officers advised that if any changes were received from the government during the twelve-week consultation period, they could be added to the current consultation and incorporated into future changes but, legally, the consultation had to start now, as the policy had to be reviewed every three years and this could not be delayed.

The Chairman advised that it had been some time since Members had been briefed on the gambling laws and requested that a Briefing Note was sent to the Committee giving an up-to-date overview on this matter.

Decision:

The Committee agreed:

a)     to authorise officers to amend the Statements of Policy for Licensing and Gambling in accordance with the changes in legislation and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 211.