Agenda and minutes

This being the first meeting of the Licensing Committee since the Council’s AGM on 7 May 2015 the Business Regulation & Licensing Manager opened the meeting and asked for nominations for Chairman of the Committee for 2015/2016.

Accordingly, Councillor Carol Lynch nominated Councillor Michael Anderson as Chairman and this was duly seconded by Councillor Nigel Roman, and with the vote being unanimous, it was

          RESOLVED:

That Councillor Michael Anderson be elected Chairman for 2015/2016.

Councillor Anderson then took the Chair for the remainder of the meeting and requested nominations for the election of Vice-Chairman.

Councillor Nigel Roman nominated Councillor Carol Lynch as Vice-Chairman and this was seconded by Councillor Bill Sadler, and with the vote being unanimous, it was

          RESOLVED:

That Councillor Carol Lynch be elected Vice-Chairman for 2015/2016.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor David Bimson.

There were no substitutes present at the meeting.

Members of the public are invited to put questions/statements of not more than 3 minutes duration relating to items to be discussed in Part 1 of the agenda only.

There were no questions/statements from members of the public.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 January 2015 (copy attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 January 2015 were accepted by the Committee as an accurate record, with 7 voting for the motion and 2 abstentions, and were signed by the Chairman.

Report No: LIC/FH/15/003

The Business Regulation & Licensing Manager presented this report which set out the West Suffolk Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles: 31 January 2016 – 30 January 2019 and sought approval to undertake consultation on the draft document.

The Committee was advised that it was a joint document with St Edmundsbury Borough Council who were due to consider the same report at their meeting on 30 June 2015.

Two typographical errors were noted as follows, and the Officer said that he would make the necessary corrections to the document:

·         Preface: re-word the first paragraph to clarify that the document was the first joint version of the policy to have been developed for the West Suffolk authorities; and

·         All references to Criminal Records Bureau checks (CRB checks) be amended to read Disclosure and Baring Service checks (DBS checks).

The Officer also advised the Committee that Councillor Brian Harvey had already submitted a number of comments in respect of the document and these would be included as part of the consultation responses.

Members then posed a number of questions which the Officer responded to.  He explained that the consultation process should identify any local gambling related issues across West Suffolk.

With the vote being unanimous, it was

          RESOLVED:

That the proposed West Suffolk Gambling Act 2005: Statement of Principles for the period 2016 to 2019 (attached as Appendix 1 to Report No LIC/FH/15/003) be approved for consultation, subject to the amendments as identified.