Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Byrne, Riyait and Westley.

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business on the agenda.

Members were asked to declare any interests they might have in the business on the agenda.  No such declarations were made.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 September 2014 are attached and the Committee will be asked to confirm them as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

that the minutes of the meeting held on 11 September 2014 be approved as a correct record.

The Monitoring Officer to report on the receipt of any petitions submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no petitions had been submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

The Monitoring Officer to report on the receipt of any questions, representations and statements of case submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no questions, representations and statements of case had been submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

The Director of Environmental and Enforcement Services to submit a report on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in Betting Premises.

The Deputy City Mayor has been invited to attend the meeting for this item.

The Director of Local Services and Enforcement submitted a report on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in Betting Premises.

Members noted that fixed odd betting terminals provided a range of slot machine type games and casino games such as roulette and black jack.  Under the Gambling Act 2005 betting premises were allowed up to four gaming machines of Category B,C or D.  Fixed odds betting terminals fell into Category B2 for casino games with a maximum stake of £100 per spin and a maximum prize of £500 per spin.  Category B3 for slot machines had a maximum stake of £2 per spin and a maximum prize of £500.

Concerns had been expressed about fixed odds betting terminals relating to:-

·         the large sums of cash that could be lost in a short period of time;

·         people on low income and poor mental health being more likely to spend more time and loose more money on them;

·         the general proliferation of betting premises on the ‘high street’; and

·         some premises being sub-divided into a cluster with multiple licences allowing more machines to be made available.

On receipt of an application local authorities could either grant or not grant the licence and there was no provision to put conditions upon the licence.  There were currently 243 betting terminals in 65 betting premises in the City.  Licensing Officers currently carried out two compliance checks each year on each premise.  The London Borough of Newham had begun a campaign using the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 to call upon the government to reduce the maximum bet per spin on fixed odds betting terminals in high street betting shops from £100 to £2.  The authority believed that these terminals were popular because they gave a fixed margin and this has led to the increase in the number of betting premises across the country.  It is believed that reducing the stake to £2 would help to protect the player by reducing losses and also bring these machines into line with other machines in bingo premises and adult gaming centres.

The Deputy City Mayor attended the meeting and outlined his and the Executive’s concerns about fixed odds betting terminals.  He stated that:-

·         The Executive had supported Newham’s Sustainable Communities Act proposal to reduce the maximum bet per spin from £100 to £2.

·         Fixed Odd betting terminals were changing the nature of betting and betting premises on the high streets.

·         There was no explanation as to why the price per spin was so explicably higher than other recreational gaming and gambling machines.

·         The machines were designed to be addictive.  Roulette games on these machines, for example, had shorter time spin times than in real life which increased the tendency to play more games in a shorter period than compared to a casino environment.

·         There was evidence to suggest that these machines increased gaming addiction, with 40% of gamblers citing fixed odd betting terminals as the source of their addiction.

·         66% of those with a gambling addiction were aged under 35 years  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

The Director of Environmental and Enforcement Services to submit a report on charitable street collections and to ask if the Council’s current policy should be amended.

The Director of Local Services and Enforcement submitted a report on charitable street collections and to ask if the Council’s current policy should be amended.

The conditions attached to charitable street collections were appended to the report and Members were asked to consider whether the following standard conditions should be amended or revised:-

‘Condition 11 – No collector or vendor shall be accompanied by an animal.’

‘Condition 15 – No payment or reward shall be made or given either directly or indirectly to any collector or vendor or other person connected with the promotion or conduct of a collection or sale for or in respect of services rendered in connection therewith.’

It was suggested that in relation to Condition 11, Members could consider applications on their merits and, if necessary, decide to retain, dis-apply the condition or replace it with a new or amended condition.

Members discussed Condition 15 and felt that further work should be undertaken to determine benchmarking levels with other authorities on any levels of remuneration allowed to be deducted from collections.

RESOLVED:-

1)         That applications for collections involving animals be considered by Members on their individual merits and, if necessary, Members could choose to retain, dis-apply the condition, amend it or replace it with a new condition.

2)         That Officers undertake research with other local authorities to identify any levels of remunerations which are allowed to be deducted from collections and report back to a future Committee meeting.

The Chair to lead a discussion on Licensing Sub Committee meetings being held at 5.30 pm.

The Chair stated that a number of Members of the Committee were finding difficulty in attending Sub-Committee meetings held during the day to hear licensing applications.  He suggested that there should be a trial period of arranging daytime and evening meetings to see if this helped to improve attendance. 

Members were in broad agreement with the suggestion and stated that starting at 6.00 pm may be more manageable to allow time for Members with daytime employment sufficient time to travel into the City at rush-hour times.

RESOLVED:

That meetings of the Licensing Sub Committees be arranged on a trial basis to take place during the daytime and evenings.

The Chair declared the meeting closed at 6.35 pm.