Meeting documents

1 EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROCEDURE

The Clerk read out the procedure.

2 ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIR(PERSON) (IF DESIRED)

RESOLVED that a Vice-Chair(person) was not required on this occasion.

3 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

Apologies were received from Cllr Tim Ball.

4 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Cllr Batt declared a personal and prejudicial interest in respect of item 8 as owner of an interest in a Taxi company.

5 TO ANNOUNCE ANY URGENT BUSINESS AGREED BY THE CHAIRMAN

There was none.

6 ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC - TO RECEIVE DEPUTATIONS, STATEMENTS, PETITIONS OR QUESTIONS

There were none.

7 MINUTES: 2^ND NOVEMBER 2007

These were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

8 REVIEW OF THE COUNCIL'S POLICY ON THE MAXIMUM AGE RESTRICTION FOR TAXI DRIVERS

The Environmental Monitoring and Licensing Manager explained that following discussions with legal officers the original report had been withdrawn and that it had not been possible to finalise the wording of a replacement report. The Senior Legal Advisor informed Members that there would need to be two reports, one dealing with the age limit, the other with the form of medical certificate to be required.

It was agreed that the reports on the age limit and on the form of medical certificate would appear on the agenda of the next meeting of the Committee on 15 September 2009.

9 REVIEW OF THE COUNCIL'S CUMULATIVE IMPACT POLICY

The Committee had been directed by the full Council to review the Cumulative Impact Policy (CIP), which had been included in the Council's revised Statement of Licensing Policy adopted on 13^th September 2007, after one year of operation.

Some Members considered that it was difficult to review the effectiveness of the CIP because of the lack of data, especially from the Primary Care Trust for 2007/08. They also considered that some alcohol-related anti-social behaviour on the streets was caused by youths who had purchased cheap alcohol from convenience stores and not by people consuming alcohol within licensed premises.

The Environmental Monitoring and Licensing Manager drew attention to the positive comments from the Police Liquor Licensing Bureau contained in Appendix C of the report. The Bureau had stated that since the introduction of the CIP, applicants were aware of the need to demonstrate, in their applications, that there would be no negative cumulative impact on the licensing objectives, and this had resulted in them submitting better Operating Schedules with their applications. A Member recalled cases where the CIP had been a useful tool in enabling the Licensing (Gambling and Licensing) Sub-Committee to reduce the hours applied for or to impose additional conditions, where proportionate, thereby achieving a better balance between the interests of the licensed trade and local residents.

The Environmental Monitoring and Licensing Manager commented that that the Police Liquor Licensing Bureau had suggested that the CIP could be used to require licensees to support the Street Marshalls scheme, which was in difficulties because of the recession. A Member commented that licensees had complained that their financial contributions to the Street Marshall scheme were increasing because other licensees were withdrawing.

A Member also stated that, if the CIP were abandoned, there would be no means of addressing the concentration of drinking establishments in the city centre

After the discussion It was moved by Cllr Chalker and seconded by Cllr Lees and RESOLVED

Voting: 7 in favour, 2 against.

10 REVIEW OF THE COUNCIL'S STATEMENT OF GAMBLING PRINCIPLES

The Environmental Monitoring and Licensing Manager presented the report. He said that the Gambling Act 2005 required local authorities to review their Statement of Gambling Principles every three years. The proposed revised draft had been brought to the Committee before the required public consultation. Responses to the consultation would be presented for consideration at a future meeting of the Committee.

In response to a question from a Member he stated that no application to open a casino in Bath had been received, though several companies had expressed an interest.

One Member suggested that there needed to be consistency in the use of the terms "Council" or "local authority". This was noted by the Environmental Monitoring and Licensing Manager and the draft would be amended appropriately.

The Committee RESOLVED

The meeting finished at 2.43pm.

Chair(person)..................................................................

Date Confirmed and Signed................................................