Agenda and minutes

Members and officers must declare any disclosable pecuniary interests in relation to

any business on the agenda. Declarations should also be made at any stage such

an interest becomes apparent during the meeting.

If in doubt contact the Legal or Democratic Services representative for this meeting.

Councillor Richard Nowak declared that he was the Chair of Worthing Community Chest, an organisation that held a licence.

Councillor Jon Roser declared he was on the Board of  Worthing Community Chest, an organisation that held a licence.

There were no substitute Members.

So as to provide the best opportunity for the Committee to provide the public with the fullest answer, questions from the public should be submitted by midday on Wednesday 20 November 2024.

Where relevant notice of a question has not been given, the person presiding may either choose to give a response at the meeting or respond by undertaking to provide a written response within three working days.

Questions should be submitted to Democratic Services - democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note: Public Question Time will last for a maximum of 30 minutes)

There were no public questions.

Pre-submitted Members questions are pursuant to rule 12 of the Council & Committee Procedure Rules.

Questions should be submitted by midday on Wednesday 20 November 2024 to  Democratic Services, democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note: Member Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

There were no questions from Members.

To approve the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 23 September 2024, which have been emailed to Members.

Resolved: that the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on

23 September 2024 be approved as the correct record.

To consider any items the Chairman of the meeting considers to be urgent

There were no urgent items.

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability & Resources, attached as item 6.

The Licensing Officer presented the report and clarified for Members that there was an error on page 7 of the report. At 7.1 where it reads ‘189 permits & registrations’ it should read ‘121 permits & registrations’.

In response to Members' questions the Officer confirmed that the policy did include gambling machines in pubs. He also explained that if the pub had more than two machines they would require a gaming permit which entailed a fee. Members expressed concern regarding harm that gambling addiction could cause and enquired what the policy does to address this. The Officer explained that there were links within the policy to profiles and signposted the Committee to Part E of the policy which dealt with Health and Wellbeing.

Members concurred that the introduction of Challenge 25 within the policy was a welcome addition. Members discussed various aspects of the policies approach to problem gambling and what a public health stratagem could look like.

The Licensing Officer explained the resource constraints of the Council and clarified for Members that we no longer have a high density of gambling premises in Worthing as online gambling had largely taken over from these. He confirmed that online Gambling is the sole responsibility of the Gambling Commission.

The Officers recommendations were that the Committee reviewed the draft Statement of Gambling Licensing Policy in relation to the Gambling Act 2005 and invited the Council to endorse its recommendations and adopt an updated policy to come into force on 31 January 2025.

A proposal was made to accept these recommendations which was seconded and voted in favour of unanimously.