Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 6^th August 2024, the Sub-Committee (1) and Sub-Committee (2) (Hackney Carriage & Private Hire Taxi Licensing) meetings held on 6^th August 2024 and 17^th September 2024, and the Sub-Committee hearing held on 20^th August 2024.

The minutes of the Committee meeting held on 6th August 2024, the Sub-Committee (1) and Sub-Committee (2) (Hackney Carriage & Private Hire Taxi Licensing) meetings held on 6th August 2024 and 17th September 2024, and the Sub-Committee hearing held on 20th August 2024 were agreed and signed as a true record.

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Law and Governance which updated Members on the outcome of the six-week consultation undertaken on the review of the Council’s Gambling Policy Statement of Principles for the Gambling Act 2005 and to recommend for approval, a revised policy for the period 2025 – 2028.

The Gambling Act 2005 requires each Licensing Authority to prepare and publish a Gambling Policy Statement of Principles. The policy sets out how the licensing authority intends to approach its licensing responsibilities and how it intends to promote the three licensing objectives.

The current Gambling Policy came into effect on 3rd January 2022, to cover a period up to 31st January 2025. The policy must be renewed every three years and be subject to a full consultation process. Cabinet Member for Policing & Equalities on 1st August 2024 and Licensing & Regulatory Committee on 6th August 2024, considered a report on the draft revised Gambling Policy Statement of Principles and authorised the Director of Law & Governance to consult on its contents.

The report advises Members of the consultation that has taken place and outlines the comments received and amendments made to the Council’s draft Gambling Policy.

There were no major changes to the policy except some minor wording amendments. The general principles of the Gambling Policy Statement of Principles remained the same and the document was still centred around the Gambling Act’s three licensing objectives, namely:

·  Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime;

·  Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way; and

·  Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

Following public consultation, the revised draft Gambling Policy Statement of Principles was now ready to be recommended for adoption to take effect from 31st January 2025 (Appendix A).

RESOLVED that, the committee:

1)  Considers the results of the consultation, and the proposed changes of the revised Gambling Policy Statement of Principles for the period 2025 – 2028.

2)  Notifies the Cabinet Member for Policing & Equalities of methods to increase consultation responses and write to the government to reduce gambling saturation in certain areas.

There were no outstanding issues.

There were no other items of public business.