Agenda item
Revised Licensing Code of Conduct
- Meeting of Licensing Committee, Tuesday, 21st March, 2017 7.00 p.m. (Item 3.1)
- View the background to item 3.1
Minutes:
The report was introduced by Paul Greeno, Senior Corporate and Governance Lawyer. Mr Greeno advised that the Licensing Code of Conduct was part of the Council’s ethical framework and supplemented the Code of Conduct for Councillors. The revised Licensing Code of Conduct would support Members to make fair and open decisions and preserve the integrity of the decision making process. The Code of Conduct had been revised to reflect legislative changes, improve consistency, provide more detailed explanations and flag up areas where Members’ behaviour would change as a result of the revised Code of Conduct.
In response to questions and comments from Members during the course of a general debate, Mr Greeno stated that
·
Hearsay evidence was admissible but it was for
Members to consider how much weight should be given to such
evidence. However further
guidance/clarification could be provided.
·
The Members training programme had mandatory and
interest lead elements and 2 separate sessions would be held in May
2017 focussing on member learning and development to ensure that
identified training needs were met appropriately.
·
Efforts were being made to streamline the process
for determining licensing applications from Sex Entertainment
Venues (SEVs) so that only applications that had received
representations were considered by Members.
·
It was for the Licensing Team to consider the
validity of representations and decide whether or not
representations were made on the basis of Licensing. However in borderline cases, the Home Office
Guidance recommended that the benefit of the doubt should be given
to the interested party making the representation
· Any concerns or complaints regarding the conduct of Members should be referred to the Monitoring Officer for investigation.
The
Committee discussed the process for determining SEV applications
and particular concerns were raised about the reluctance of some
Members to attend meetings when SEV applications were considered
because of the attitude/reaction of some Councillors and the local
community who were opposed to SEVs on moral and/or religious
grounds. Members also argued that in
the past, Councillors who had been involved in determining SEV
applications had been heckled by other Members and had also been
verbally abused by members of the local community. Other family relatives had also been
targeted.
In response officers stated that
·
Even if Members had opposing view, they should
behave respectfully at all times and this was flagged up in the
Code of Conduct.
· Although the determination of SEV applications was a complex process, it was reiterated that procedural changes were being considered which would allow officers to determine SEV applications under delegated authority in cases where no representations had been made. This practice had already been adopted by other Licensing Authorities.
· In the past, press releases had been prepared to explain the Council’s role and responsibilities in determining SEV applications. However because of the complexity of the process, there were particular challenges to explaining the process in a simple way.
· As a public figure, Councillors should expect a level of criticism. However, when making tough decisions, Members should not be subjected to harassment, intimidation or threats
RESOLVED – That the revised Licensing Code of Conduct be noted.
Supporting documents:
- 3.1 Revised Licensing Code of Conduct, item 3.1 PDF 86 KB
- 3.1b Enc. 1 for Revised Licensing Code of Conduct, item 3.1 PDF 31 KB
- 3.1c Enc. 2 for Revised Licensing Code of Conduct, item 3.1 PDF 245 KB