Issue - meetings

This is the first Sex Establishment Policy for BCP Council since the establishment on the 1^st April 2019 of a single local government area for the now dissolved boroughs of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

The Licensing Manager presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

This was the first Sex Establishment Policy for BCP Council since the establishment on the 1^st April 2019 of a single local government area for the now dissolved boroughs of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. Both Bournemouth and Poole had previously published individual policies for sex establishments, that is, sex shops, sexual entertainment venues, and sex cinemas. The Licensing Authority was required to prepare, adopt and publish a new policy for the new local government area 24 months from the date of reorganisation. In order to do this the Council first needed to adopt schedule 3 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 (as amended by Section 27 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009) for the new single local government area of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

The Committee was asked to consider the draft policy at Appendix 2 of the report, and amend as required, before approving it for a period of public consultation. The Licensing Manager referred in particular to Chapters 10 and 11 of the policy. These sections dealt with the character of locations suitable or otherwise for licensed sex establishments and the number of sex establishments deemed appropriate in a locality. It was noted that the Licensing Authority had discretion to specify on these matters.

In addition to the policy, a single set of fees which covered the costs to the Council was proposed at the updated Appendix 3, published as a supplement to the report.

The Chair explained the process for considering the draft policy and asked the Committee to focus on the main issues for discussion and decision in Chapters 10 and 11. Any typographical errors and technical amendments would be addressed by officers prior to the policy being released for public consultation.

The Licensing Manager, Senior Licensing Officer and Senior Solicitor provided the following information in response to questions from Committee Members:

·       The definition of a sex shop for the purposes of sex establishment licensing referred to any ‘premises, vehicle, vessel or store’ used for the business. Online only operators were not included in this definition.

·       The business was defined as a sex shop if it consisted of a significant degree of qualifying adult material or a significant degree of profit from that material. While there was case law to assist in determining what constituted a ‘significant degree’, this did not preclude each case being assessed individually.

·       There were no limits on the number of sex establishments which one individual or company could own. This was not necessarily a problem and it was noted that locally the same operator of two licensed sex shops operated responsibly with no complaints.

·       Until the new policy was adopted and published the Council would continue to apply the two existing policies to any applications or renewals, but at the same time there would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15