Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Annwen Daniels, Dilwyn Lloyd, Peter Read and John Wyn Williams and from Gareth Jones (Senior Manager - Planning and Environment Service)

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

No declarations of personal interest were received from any members present.

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration.

It was noted that the recent ‘Licensing for Members’ training by Mr Jim Button had been very beneficial and had made it clear to Members that the four licensing objectives were central to every decision.

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this Committee, held on 01.12.15  be signed as a true record. 

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee, held on 1 December 2015, as a true record.

Submitted - for information, the minutes of a meeting of the Central Licensing Sub-committee held on:

09.10.15

24.11.15

21.12.15

12.01.16

29.01.16

Submitted - for information, the minutes of the meetings of the Central Licensing Sub-committee held on 

09.10.15

24.11.15

21.12.15

12.01.16

29.01.16

Consider the report of the Licensing Manager

Report to follow

The Licensing Manager provided a verbal update, which highlighted the Council's duty to review its Policy Statement for the Gambling Act 2005 every three years. In accordance with the arrangements implemented to update the Policy Statement for the Licensing Act 2003, it was noted that the North Wales Group had decided to use the same process to proceed with reviewing and updating the Gambling Policy Statement for 2016 - 2019. It was reported that one joint meeting had already been held to agree on the structure and the content, with a further intention to proceed with implementing the amendments to the policy. It was noted that the policy would follow the style and format of the Council's Licensing Act Policies to ensure consistency.

It was reiterated that one change for this period of amendments would be responding to the need to create a 'local area profile'. From April 2016 onwards, every premises with a Gambling license would need to prepare a risk assessment for the business which would consider the location and the types of people around it, to ensure that they adhere to the gambling objectives. The purpose of the 'local area profile' was to support these businesses to draw up a risk assessment - by sharing information about the nature of Gwynedd (a breakdown of the population, use of the Welsh language, the fact that there's a lot of tourism in the county and that the nature of gambling corresponds to the large caravan sites), the information would form patterns to create a clear picture of the situation for the businesses. 

It was reported that the Licensing Manager had commenced the work of drawing up a draft policy with the intention of submitting it to the Licensing Committee before beginning the public consultation process, once the 'local area profile' had been completed. In terms of a timetable, it was noted that the Draft Policy should be ready by June 2016.

Matters arising from the discussion:

·         To approve the need to review the Gambling Policy Statement

·         An increase in gambling advertisements on television and therefore a need to ensure that the policies were appropriate and correct

The suggested information was accepted and it was suggested to hold a special meeting should the Draft Policy be completed before then.

Oral update by Senior Manager Planning and Environmental

A verbal update was received from the Licensing Manager on the service's recent exercises to review Licensing's work processes to ensure that the people of Gwynedd were central to what was being implemented. It was noted that several questionnaires had been completed seeking opinion and observations on the department's work and it was reiterated that these observations had been very supportive and had offered possible considerations e.g. self-service opportunities. It was reported that the next step was listing and reviewing these processes and prioritising them as required.

Observations arising from the discussion:

·         A suggestion that good communication and collaboration between the different units within Public Protection should be ensured to make sure that any complaint or observation was addressed. 

·         A suggestion to visit businesses unannounced or send mystery shoppers to businesses

·         Needed to educate the public about the requirements and timetable of hearings

·         Needed to educate service providers

·         Needed to highlight the lack of resources to the Licensing Committee

In response to the observation regarding the hearings timetable, it was noted that there was an intention to measure this performance with a new indicator - ' application process period'.

It was reiterated that the Licensing Unit's resources were very tight and it was suggested that perhaps the result of the Ffordd Gwynedd exercise would be the need for additional resources.

The Licensing Manager was thanked for the information and the small Unit was praised for its good work.