Venue: Siambr Hywel Dda - Council Offices, Caernarfon. View directions
Contact: Lowri Haf Evans 01286 679 878
No. | Item |
---|---|
APOLOGIES To receive
any apologies for absence. Minutes: 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) |
|
DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive
any declaration of personal interest. Minutes: No declarations of personal interest were received from
any members present. |
|
URGENT ITEMS To note any
items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for
consideration. Minutes: 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. Minutes: The Chair signed the
minutes of the previous meeting of this committee, held on 1 December 2015, as
a true record. |
|
LICENSING SUB COMMITTEE MINUTES 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 Additional documents:
Minutes: 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 |
|
GWYNEDD COUNCIL GAMBLING POLICY Consider
the report of the Licensing Manager Report to
follow Minutes: 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. |
|
FFORDD GWYNEDD - LICENSING EXCERCISE Oral update
by Senior Manager Planning and Environmental Minutes: 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. |