Councillor Martin Brown, Chair of Community Services and Licensing Committee will chair the meeting of the Community Services and Licensing Committee on 25 September. The agenda includes a review of the council's licensing policy, a discussion on establishing a task and finish group for outside bodies, and updates on performance monitoring and budget. Members will also note reports from representatives on outside bodies, including updates on the Cultural Strategy and leisure performance.

Review of Licensing Policy

The committee will consider comments received during the consultation period for the review of Stroud District Council's policy under the Licensing Act 2003, with a view to approving a final statement of licensing policy for adoption by the full council on 23 October 2025. The policy outlines the principles the council will apply when exercising its functions under the Licensing Act 2003 for the period January 2026 to January 2031.

A schedule of consultation comments and responses is provided in Appendix A - Schedule of Consultation Comments and Responses. Proposed amendments to the first draft policy are included in the schedule.

A final draft statement of licensing policy, reflecting suggested amendments from the consultation, is in Appendix B - Final Draft Statement of Licensing Policy for January 2026. The original amendments before consultation are in red, and additional proposed amendments after the consultation are in blue.

The licensing manager proposes adding guidance and e-training information on how to prepare for a terrorist attack, available through the ProtectUK website, to the section in the policy on Martyn's Law¹. The licensing manager also proposes adding the following wording to the section in the policy on public nuisance:

4.7 Litter - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Applicants and licence holders are encouraged to apply the principles of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle to minimize waste and potential littering issues.

The licensing manager also proposes adding the following wording to the section on the licensing process:

11:11 The Council will accept petitions that meet the licensing objectives; however, the organiser of the petition must identify themselves as a central point of contact with a contact name, address and preferably a contact email.

The legal officer suggests rewording section 2.12, regarding the Ask for Angela scheme², to reflect that the scheme can be used by daytime venues as well as nighttime venues.

Task and Finish Group for Outside Bodies

The committee will consider a report seeking approval to undertake a review of the council's representation to all outside bodies by establishing a task and finish group.

According to the report, outside bodies are external organisations, partnerships, or groups to which the council appoints elected members to represent its interests. These may include charities, trusts, joint committees and advisory panels.

The proposed task and finish group would:

• Review and identify all outside bodies to which the council appoints representatives.
• Evaluate the purpose and function of each outside body and how they relate to the ambitions set out in the Council Plan[^4].
• Review the reporting mechanisms for outside body representatives.
• Identify any new bodies which may benefit from member representation.
• Make recommendations to the Community Services and Licensing and Environment Committees as appropriate.

The draft terms of reference for the task and finish group are included in Item 9 - Appendix A - Draft Terms of Reference - Outside Bodies Task and Finish Group.

Performance Monitoring and Budget

The committee will receive an update on performance monitoring for Quarter 1, and will also review the Community Services and Licensing Budget Monitoring Report for Q1 2025/26. The budget monitoring report presents the 2025/26 forecast outturn position against the revenue budgets and Capital Programme that the committee is responsible for, in order to give an expectation of possible variances against budget.

The monitoring position for the committee as at 30 June 2025 shows a projected net revenue overspend of £17,000 against the latest budget. The capital programme is showing a forecast spend of £1.393m against a revised budget of £1.331m.

Member/Officer Reports

The committee will note the following member/officer reports:

• Gloucestershire Health Overview Scrutiny Committee
• Museum in the Park (Cowle Trust) Councillors Marisa Godfrey and Paul Turner report that the Museum in the Park welcomed just over 15,000 visitors in the first quarter of 2025/26, up 6% on the same period in the year before. The museum also received 22 new offers of objects or groups of objects, so far accepting 9 of these.
• Police and Crime Panel Councillor Gareth Kitchen reports that Temporary Chief Constable Maggie Blyth explained that some crime dealt with nationally and some regionally, and some local crime is cross county border. Domestic abuse crimes are on the increase, and CSA is under-reported.
• Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswolds Councillor Gary Luff reports that between 1 April 2025 and 31 August 2025, Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswolds advised 1,711 clients and dealt with 6,738 issues. The top five issue areas for Stroud clients were benefits, debt, housing, relationships and family, and financial services and capability.
• Kingshill House Creative Centre Councillor Ian Hamilton reports that Kingshill House Creative Centre gave a comprehensive report of progress in recovery from a position of debt in 2022/23. The centre is in a far better position than previous years, thanks to prudent cost management and expansion of revenue activities.
• Woodchester Park Mansion Councillor Steve Robinson reports that the trustees are delighted to have received a grant of £130,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund³.
• Cultural Strategy Update The Cultural Strategy was adopted by the council on 24 October 2024. The report provides an update on progress in delivery of the action plan.
• Leisure Performance Update The report provides a summary of current performance across Leisure Services, covering membership trends, business development activity, and updates on capital maintenance and investment.
• Violence and Intimidation Against Women and Girls Information Sheet The Violence and Intimidation Against Women and Girls (VIAWG) Partnership Group is a multi-agency forum working to prevent and respond to Violence and Intimidation Against Women and Girls (VIAWG) and Serious Violence across Stroud District.

Other Items

The agenda also includes the following items:

• Apologies for absence
• Declaration of interests
• Approval of the minutes from the meeting held on 19 June 2025
• Public questions
• Member questions
• Appointment to Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswold Districts (substitute)
• Work programme