Agenda and minutes

None 

That the Chairman be authorised to sign the minutes of the meetings held on 31 March and 21 May 2009. 

The Chairman was authorised to sign the minutes of the meetings held on 31 March and 21 May 2009.

At its meeting on 31 March 2009 the Committee agreed to the request by Duxford Parish Council that all the streets in the Parish be designated as Consent Streets. A Notice of Intention was subsequently advertised in the local press with a deadline of 26 June for any representations to be made to the Council. As no objections were received, the Licensing Committee

RESOLVED    to designate all streets in the village of Duxford as Consent Streets under the terms of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982.

Prior to consideration of this item, the Committee were informed by the Democratic Services Officer that Councillor SGM Kindersley, in his capacity as County Councillor for Barrington, supported the recommendation.

The Licensing Officer informed the Committee that two vans had been trading indiscriminately and although they were trading within the specified trading hours, the Parish Council had received complaints from residents about where the vans had been parking.

The Licensing Committee,

AGREED        to the request from Barrington Parish Council for all streets in the village to be designated as Consent Streets and proceed to the next stage of the process namely, to place a Notice of Intention in the local press.

Prior to consideration of this item, the Democratic Services Officer informed the Committee that as a result of changes to the Leader’s Scheme of Delegation he was, following the consultation process in respect of the Gambling Policy, authorised to consider responses and suggested amendments at his meeting on 12 November and make a recommendation to Council on 26 November 2009 (paragraph 13 of the covering report refers)

Cllr Mrs CAED Murfitt sought clarification from the Licensing Officer on the wording of the last sentence in paragraph 11 of the covering report. In response, the Licensing Officer confirmed that it should read: This includes publishing a notice in a local newspaper and on the Council’s website of its intention to adopt a policy.

The Licensing Officer informed the Committee that contrary to the usual practice of providing a revised previously adopted document showing track changes in the agenda papers, and due to the many government changes regarding the Gambling Policy, he had with the help of the Assistant Licensing Officer, re-written the Policy in its entirety. Members’ attention was drawn to the main revisions from the previously agreed Policy, detailed in paragraph 16 of the covering report.

As a result of the ensuing discussion, the following questions were raised in respect of the draft policy with answers in bold type:

• How many gambling premises did SCDC have? No casinos or bingo halls; 5 bookmakers, 2 occasional use for horse races, ie point-to-point in Horseheath and Cottenham
• How would access to the premises be affected if someone else owned it? An adult gambling centre can only have 4 machines that pay out up to £100. Some premises wanted more and split the premises down the middle by, eg, partitioning with plasterboard between the room. The policy now requires a street or public passageway between gambling establishments
• How would if affect community halls that have bingo games? They wouldn’t be affected if the turnover was less than £2000 over a 7-day period
• What was the relevance of premises having a separate registration for business rates and whether the premises were owned by the same person? To counteract sub-dividing the premises
• How were private clubs accommodated within this policy? Gambling clubs require a Gambling licence and would have to apply to the District Council for a premises licence
• A request was made that `non-believer’ groups be added to the consultation list, eg Humanists Agreed
• Did the legislation cover on-line gambling? Any UK based on-line company would be covered but not those with bases outside the UK, however, this was being considered for the next draft of government legislation
• Contrary to reference in the policy that there was no schedule on risk-based inspections in relation to gambling premises, the Licensing Officer informed the Committee that the Local Better Regulation Office was working towards a risk-based inspection toolkit for use by all local authorities to enable consistency throughout the country and was due to be piloted later this year, becoming effective in 2010
• Concern was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To consider the recommendation from the Licensing Committee. 

The Environmental Services Portfolio Holder APPROVED the revised

Gambling Act Licensing Policy document for formal consultation