Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 5.

The Democratic Services Officer began the meeting by asking for a nomination for the Chair of the Committee in the absence of the current Chair, Councillor Steve Hedges.

Councillor Sarah Moore proposed that Councillor Toby Simon act as Chair of the Committee for the duration of the meeting. Councillor Michael Auton seconded the proposal.

The Committee RESOLVED that Councillor Toby Simon would act as Chair of the Committee for the duration of the meeting.

The Democratic Services Officer drew attention to the Emergency Evacuation Procedure.

No Vice-Chair was required on this occasion.

Apologies to the Committee had been received from Councillor Steve Hedges, Councillor Onkar Saini and Councillor Tim Warren.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting.

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest (as defined in Part 4.4 Appendix B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests).

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer or a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

There were none.

The Committee confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting as a true record and they were duly signed by the Chair.

The Lead Officer (Licensing) introduced the report to the Committee. He explained that whilst reference is made to the Equality Act 2010 within the Policy there was no dedicated paragraph and therefore they propose that the following wording be added to the draft policy.

46.EQUALITY ACT 2010 (“the 2010 Act”)

46.1 BANES must, in the exercise of its functions, have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimization and any other conduct that is prohibited under the 2010 Act; advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

46.2 The relevant protected characteristics are:

• age;

• disability;

• gender reassignment;

• pregnancy and maternity;

• race;

• religion or belief;

• sex;

• sexual orientation

and BANES’ Equality and Diversity resources and reporting can be

found here https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/equality-and-diversity

The Lead Officer (Licensing) also advised that the Committee would be asked to approve the following updated recommendations.

i)  Note the responses to the public consultation exercise and to accept the officer recommendations in Appendix 1.

ii)  Recommend the revised Statement of Licensing Policy in Appendix 2, subject to the addition of paragraph 46 as set out in the additional information, is adopted when it is presented to Full Council on 22nd May 2025.

iii)  Delegate authority to the Team Manager – Environmental Protection and Licensing to address any minor typographical and/or cross-referencing issues in the Statement of Licensing Policy prior to referral to Full Council.

The Lead Officer (Licensing) explained that the Council had completed a 12-week public consultation on the review of the Statement of Licensing Policy, which it is obliged to do at least every five years.

He stated that the Statement of Licensing Policy explains how the Licensing Authority will exercise its licensing functions under the Licensing Act 2003 and that central to the Licensing Policy Statement is the promotion of the four key licensing objectives:

• The prevention of crime and disorder

• Public Safety

• The prevention of public nuisance

• The protection of children from harm

He informed the Committee that 43 responses were received through the consultation where respondents were asked whether they agreed or not with the consultation draft and were invited to make comment. He stated that 17 respondents stated they agreed with the draft; 14 stated they did not know/did not choose to state whether they agreed or not and 12 stated they disagreed.

The Chair referred to page 20 of the agenda pack and asked if Saltford Parish Council receive the same weekly email that Councillors do regarding new Licensing applications.

The Lead Officer (Licensing) replied that they do, but are not considered as a Responsible Authority and would therefore need to respond to the Notices displayed for an application, Newspaper advert, or by being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.