Decision details

The Principal Licensing Officer, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), presented the report to Members. The purpose of the report was for Members to consider the consultation responses and to resolve whether to recommend the DRAFT statement of licencing principles to full council for approval.

Officers detailed to Members that on 15^th July 2024, the Licencing Committee approved the draft revised statement of principles, for the purpose of going out to consultation.

Two responses to the consultation were received, one from the Operations Manager of the Lotteries Council who responded stating that they had no comment. The second response was from solicitors acting on behalf of the Betting and Gaming Council, the full response was outlined on pages 11 to 16 of the Public Reports pack.

Officers highlighted that although the majority of the response was positive, one amendment was requested which stated “Paragraph 11.2 contains a bullet point list of factors that the council expects to be considered when conducting a local risk assessment. The bullet point list should be redrafted with the reference to whether the premises is in an area of deprivation being deleted.” The reasoning for the request was that the affluency of the area did not impact on if a venue was able to meet the licencing objectives effectively.

Officers respected the position of the Betting and Gaming Council but stated that paragraph 11.2 detailed a number of factors to be considered during the risk assessment, and that it was the opinion of WRS that the demographic of the area should be considered during this process. All the risk factors, which included the affluency of the area, should be used to assess the potential risk to the application and surrounding residents.

Members discussed the stance of WRS and were in agreement that it was an important factor to consider along with all the other points raised in paragraph 11.2, therefore, Members did not recommend any alteration to the draft report.

It was clarified that should Members recommend the DRAFT statement of licencing principles to full council for approval, it would go to the meeting on 11^th November 2024 and would come into effect on 31^st January 2025.

Members were generally in agreement with the statement of principles and on being put to a vote it was:

Recommended to Council that

the draft Statement of Licencing Principles be approved and published with effect from 31^st January 2025.