Agenda item

The Environmental Monitoring and Licensing Manager presented the report. He explained that the proposal was to merge the two current licensing sub-committees, the Licensing (Gambling and Licensing) Sub-Committee and the Licensing (Taxis, Street Trading and Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee. He noted that there had been discussion in the past about the appropriate allocation of functions between the two sub-committees.

The Licensing (Taxis, Street Trading and Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee met on a fixed day each month, whereas the Licensing (Gambling and Licensing) Sub-Committee met only when representations had been made to an application under the Licensing Act 2003 or Gambling Act 2005.  There were statutory deadlines specifying how soon hearings had to be held after the end of the representation period for applications, which might not coincide with a monthly fixed date. In that case an extra meeting would have to be held.

Members made the following points to which the Environmental and Licensing Manager responded:

Would the single sub-committee deal with all licensing applications? All, except applications relating to sex establishments, which the full Licensing Committee had to determine.

With only a single Sub-Committee it could happen that several additional meetings in a month might be required to deal with alcohol licensing. The number of applications coming to the Gambling and Licensing Sub-Committee had declined and meetings had become less frequent. He thought that it was unlikely that additional meetings would be necessary very often.

It might be helpful for the single Sub-Committee to have more than three members. A larger pool of trained members would be helpful. Training would need to be improved to cover all licensing issues and it is proposed to introduce a more formal training programme for Members on the committee.

If the new Sub-Committee still comprised three members, they should be 1 Conservative, I Liberal Democrat and 1 Independent or Labour. The Sub-Committee would be subject to the usual proportionality rules.

Members debated these issues and made the following points:

• the Gambling and Licensing Sub-Committee initially met three times a week when licences were being converted after the coming into force of the Licensing Act 2003.  Since then there had been a significant decline in the need to hold such meetings

• the new Sub-Committee should be non-political

• the majority Group could concede a place to the Independents

• proportionality had not been observed when substitutes from the same Group had not been available

• the Council could be asked to exempt the Sub-Committee from the proportionality rules

• the workload of a single Sub-Committee and its Chair would be too great

• the decision to have only one Sub-Committee could be reviewed if it proved unworkable

• if the new Sub-Committee had 3 members, there should always be a pool of 5 who could be drawn on to make it easier to arrange a meeting

• some members did not want to sit on a Sub-Committee all the time, but if they were trained they could be substitutes occasionally

• there should be a larger pool of trained members to draw on

• all but two members indicated that they had received training

• the Sub-Committee should have a Vice-Chair

The Environmental Monitoring and Licensing Manager suggested that experience over the past two years made it unlikely that the workload of a single Sub-Committee would be too great. He suggested that with better management that the single sub-committee could deal with all the applications currently being brought before both committees.

After further discussion it was moved by Cllr Romero and seconded by Cllr Chalker and  RESOLVED by 8 votes to 2

1. That the Terms of Reference for the Licensing Committee be amended to reduce the number of Sub-Committees from two to one.

2. That the changes to the Terms of Reference are introduced from the date of the Council’s Annual General Meeting in May 2013.

It was moved by Cllr Romero and seconded by Cllr Clarke and RESOLVED that the Sub-Committee should have a Vice-Chair (unpaid).

It was moved by Cllr Curran and seconded by Cllr Romero and RESOLVED that all members of the Licensing Committee should receive training in the full range of licensing issues.