Review of Licensing Committees and Licensing Boards

The Highland Council has agreed to create one Licensing Committee and one Licensing Board for the Highlands in a bid to achieve savings, make the system more efficient and enable decision-making to be more accessible and transparent.

The single committee and board will replace the existing three area committees and the three licensing boards covering Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross; Ross, Skye and Lochaber; and Inverness, Nairn, and Badenoch and Strathspey.

The change follows a review of the way the Council deals with licensing issues.  The Licensing Committee deals with general licensing, such as taxi licensing, street trader licences and public entertainment licences while the Licensing Board deals with liquor licensing and gambling.

The chairman and vice-chairman and the 10 members of the new committee and board will be elected at the Council’s next meeting on 9 September.

Initially, the chairman and vice-chairman of the committee will also be the office-bearers for the board.

Meetings will be held monthly at the Council Chamber, Inverness and will be webcast.

It is expected that increased use will be made of video-conferencing to enable members to participate in meetings from outwith Inverness, wherever possible.

Administrative arrangements for licensing committees and boards will be reviewed to ensure the full efficiencies are achieved.

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