Councillors Mrs E Shields (in the Chair), Mrs V Arnold, Mrs LCowling, Mrs D Keal, B Maud, C Parkin, S Preston and Mrs JTaylor.
Mrs A Adnitt, Miss C Gaynor and S Richmond.
504. Apology for Absence
An apology for absence was received from CouncillorHuntington.
505. Minutes
The minutes of a meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 25January 2007 (previously circulated) were presented.
Resolved
That the minutes of a meeting of theLicensing Committee held on 25 January 2007 be approved and signedby the Chairman as a correct record.
506. Urgent Business
The Chairman reported that there were no items to beconsidered as a matter of urgency by virtue of Section 100B(4)(b)of the Local Government Act 1972.
507. Declarations of Interest
There were no interests declared.
508. Gambling Act 2005 – Scheme ofDelegation
The Environmental Health Manager submitted a report(previously circulated), which sought Members’ approval for thedelegation of powers to enable the Council as Licensing Authorityto discharge its functions under the Gambling Act 2005.
The Environmental Health Manager reported that the GamblingAct 2005 imposed new statutory duties on the Council. The frameworkfor dealing with this new requirement was largely in placefollowing the introduction of the Licensing Act 2003. It wasimportant that the Council had a Scheme of Delegation in placeprior to the first applications being received on 21 May 2007, inorder to enable the smooth and efficient administration of itsduties.
It was proposed that the Officers Scheme of Delegation beamended to include the Gambling Act 2005 to the list of enactmentsfor which the Environmental Health Manager had delegated authority.Under the terms of the current Constitution the EnvironmentalHealth Manager had the power to appoint and/or authorise officersto exercise statutory functions on the Council’s behalf.
Resolved
(a) That the report be received.
(b) That the licensing authority’sfunctions under the Gambling Act 2005 and the regulations madehereunder be delegated to the Licensing Sub-Committee,Environmental Health Manager, Council Solicitor and other officersin accordance with the table of delegation shown in Annex B of thereport.
(c) That the procedures adopted for theadministration of Sub-Committees under the provisions of theLicensing Act 2003 be adopted for Sub-Committees constituted underthe Gambling Act 2005.
(d) That the function of registration ofsmall lotteries be delegated to the Environmental HealthManager.
(e) That the decision as to whether thelocal authority decides to promote a lottery, be undertaken by theLicensing Committee.
(f) That the Council Solicitor beauthorised to make all the consequential amendments to theCouncil’s Constitution.
509. Gambling Act 2005 – Setting ofFees
The Environmental Health Manager submitted a report(previously circulated), which sought approval for the setting offees under the provisions of the Gambling Act 2005.
The Environmental Health Manager reported that under theprovisions of Section 154(2)(b) of The Gambling Act 2005 thelicensing authority had the discretion to delegate the decision onthe setting of fees to the Licensing Committee. This delegation hadbeen approved by Council at its meeting held on 8 March 2007.
The Gambling (Premises Licence Fees) (England and Wales)Regulations had now been published and were to come into force on21 May 2007, the same date that applications for premises licencesmay be made to the Council as Licensing Authority. The regulationsmade provision about application, annual and other fees relating topremises licences issued under Part 8 of the Gambling Act2005.
The Regulations provide that the following types of fees areto be determined by licensing authorities:
- Licence application fee
- First annual fee
- Annual fee
- Notification of a change of circumstance fee
- Application to vary a licence fee
- Application to transfer a licence fee
- Fee for a copy of a licence
- Application for reinstatement of a licence fee
- Provisional statement application fee
In each case, the fee determined by a licensing authority mustnot exceed a maximum fee specified in the relevant regulation or inthe table of maximum fees in the schedule. Section 212 of the Actrequired that the income from fees as near as possible equate tothe costs of providing the service to which the fee related. Forthe licensing authority this meant that the service should be costneutral. In determining application and other fees the licensingauthority must ensure that these are limited to recovery of thecosts of carrying out their functions under the Act. Officers hadcalculated the proposed fees based on the advice from LACORS (LocalAuthority Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services) and for comparisonpurposes, the level of suggested fees were shown in Annex B of thereport. The proposed schedule of fees requiring adoption wasoutlined at Annex C of the report. Licensing authorities wererequired to review their fees on an annual basis.
In addition, the Environmental Health Manager reported thatthe Regulations allowed for conversion applications to be ‘fasttrack’ or ‘non-fast track’. The Regulations stated that the maximumfee for fast track applications should not exceed £300. It wasrecommended that the maximum fee for this type of applicationaccordingly be set at £300.
Resolved
(a) That the report be received.
(b) That the proposed fees as set out inAnnex C of the report be approved.
(c) That the fee for fast track conversionapplications be set at £300.