An apology for absence was received from Cllr Greta Goatley.

The Chair stated that in respect of Minute 28 Declarations of Interest – the detail should be amended to show that his son is the Director of Communications at the Association of British Bookmakers.

Subject to the above amendment, the Minutes of the Licensing Committee held on 28 September 2015 were signed by the Chair.

The Chair declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in that his son is the Director of Communications at the Association of British Bookmakers.

Cllr Thompson declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in that he was the holder of a Premises Licence including late night refreshment.

Jim Whiddett, Operations Manager at Kent Trading Standards gave a brief presentation to Members outlining the changes made to the service resulting from a recent comprehensive review.  

Kent had been split into two areas covering the East and West of the County.  The organisation, now located at one site in Ashford, had split all staff into 4 distinct teams covering various functions.  The Licensing function came under the auspices of the Consumer and Public Safety Team.

Mr Whiddett explained how trading standards had no problem at all in recruiting young people to assist in the investigation of underage sales of alcohol. 

The Chair thanked Mr Whiddett for his informative presentation.

The Committee was updated on the consultation exercise that had taken place on the proposed Statement of Licensing Policy under the Gambling Act 2005 that had been reviewed after the statutory three year period.  Most changes were administrative in nature however the draft policy also took account of two substantive new elements in the draft 5^th edition Guidance to Licensing Authorities (GLA5).

(1)        the requirement for local operator risk assessments;

(2)        the ability of a local authority to create a Local Area Profile of local details, risks and concerns.  In Gravesham it was considered inappropriate to include such a profile at the current time or within the body of this policy as it would only represent a snapshot of its profile at a given point in time and require re-consultation whenever updated.

On consideration of the consultation responses, it was recommended that draft policy be amended to more closely to reflect the now published GLA5 guidance and to make explicit reference to the Regulators Code.

Committee was reminded that under the Act a Licensing Authority had the ability to determine whether it wished to issue any casino premises licences if there were availability to do so. 

Recommended that Council

(1)        approve the incorporation of the recommendations shown in Appendix 3 to the report in its Statement of Licensing Policy;

(2)        extend the “no-casinos” resolution for a further period of three years.

The Committee was updated on changes to the licensing requirements of late night refreshment under the Licensing Act 2003.  

The Deregulation Act 2015 gives discretionary powers to a Licensing Authority to exempt certain late night refreshment provision from the requirement to be licensed.

Resolved that

(1)        officers proceed with a more detailed examination of the options open to the Council as Licensing Authority and submit a further report to the  Committee in March 2016;

(2)        the report be noted.