The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety has submitted a report to inform Committee of the progress made by the Licensing Authority under the Licensing Act 2003 and Gambling Act 2005 during the full Council Year.

Recommendations: The Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee is

recommended to:

1.    Note the contents of the report; and

2.    Make any comments and recommendations regarding the future work of the Licensing function.

The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety had submitted a report to inform the Committee of the progress made by the Licensing Authority under the Licensing Act 2003 and Gambling Act 2005 during the full Council Year.

The Licensing Compliance Officer spoke briefly to the report, noting that five Premises Licences applications had been the subject of relevant representations, which required determination by the Licensing Sub-Committee.

The report drew attention to the continued high levels of enforcement and compliance work undertaken by the Authority to promote the night time economy as being vibrant and safe, and the various types of enforcement operations carried out.

The report also detailed the reactive enforcement following complaints from members of public submitted to the Authority in regards to licensed venues.

In response to questions he explained that the licensing team worked closely with other agencies such as the police and Trading Standards to conduct high visibility  checks of compliance with licensing requirements on a regular basis. Contact was made with licence holders if complaints relating to licensing matters were received.   There had been slight increase in the number of TENS applications over the previous Council year. There had also been an increase in applications for online alcohol sales, delivered to the purchaser’s address. It was noted that such sales were subject to requirements for the vendor to confirm, at the point of delivery,   that the purchaser was at least 18.

The Chair thanked the officers for the report and for the valuable work of the licensing team.

The Committee resolved to:

Note the contents of the report.