Midlothian District - Draft Resolution on Public Entertainment Licensing.

THE MIDLOTHIAN COUNCIL  

Draft Resolution on Public Entertainment Licensing

NUMBER 01/2025

SECTION 9 CIVIC GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 1982 (AS AMENDED) DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION

Midlothian Council as Licensing Authority for Midlothian District; in terms of

Section 9 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1882 (as amended) “the Act” make a resolution in the following terms:-

Midlothian Council intends to resolve that from dd/mm/yyyy [at least 9 months from the day on which the resolution was made, section 9(2) of the Act] any activity falling within any of the classes of activity listed below shall require the premises to be licensed in terms of Section 41 (Public Entertainment Licences) of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and shall be regulated by the relevant provisions of the said Act.

This resolution is made in relation to the whole of Midlothian District being the whole area of the licensing authority.

Any preceeding resolution regards public entertainment licensing in Midlothian, shall from [same date] be replaced.

1)     Section 41 of the Act relating to Public Entertainment Licences shall continue to have effect throughout the local government area of Midlothian

2)     Subject to the terms of Section 41 and Schedule 1 of the said Act , a Public Entertainment Licence shall be required for the use of premises as places of public entertainment for the classes of activity, specifi ed in Clause 4 hereof, to which the public are admitted or in which the public may use any facilities, upon payment, for the purposes of entertainment or recreation, but excluding athletic or sports grounds whilst being used as such, premises licensed for alcohol or gaming, places for which S41A of the Act licences are required, cinemas, and certain other categories as from dd/mm/yyyy.

3)     A  Public Entertainment Licence shall not be required for the classes of activity listed in Clause 5

4)     A Public Entertainment Licence shall be required in respect of any of the following types of activity:

•      Dancing establishments

•      Premises with mechanical rides or simulators intended for entertainment or amusement excluding those rides exclusively for use by children under the age of 5 whilst supervised by an adult

•      Concert Halls

•      Indoor or open air festivals or concerts, shows or performances or other events, irrespective of capacity numbers, involving the erection of temporary stages, scenery or other temporary raised structure(s)

•      Open air concerts or other events where a capacity of 200 persons or more may be present

•      Any activity involving shooting, including but not limited to archery, clay pigeon shooting or paintball

•      Indoor or external adventure playground style childrens’ play areas including soft play areas

•      Health Clubs and/ or gymnasia

•      Indoor bowling alleys including ten pin mechanical bowling alleys

•      Premises used for laser displays or laser games or war gaming

•      Theaters, including any theatrical performance, play, dramatisation, concert, or comedy act

•      Any Act or exhibition to which the Hypnotism Act 1952 applies

•      Billiards, Snooker or Pool Halls

•      Exhibitions of objects such as paintings, sculptures, drawings or historical artefacts

•      E xhibition of persons, including but not limited to boxing, wrestling, cage fi ghting or martial arts

•      Saunas, massage parlours, tanning or sunbed salons or nail bars

•      Motorcycle or quadbike scrambling

•      Circuses, carnivals or funfairs; including merry-go-rounds, roundabouts, swings, switchback railways, skittle alleys, coconut shies, hooplas, mechanical riding, driving or boating apparatus; or anything similar to any of the foregoing

•      Track racing or go-carting or off-road driving experiences where the operator provides access to vehicles, including segways, for entertainment purposes

•      Airshows, including model airshows or hot air ballooning

•      A musement arcades

•      Water sports activities including raft races, wake boarding, water skiing, sail boarding, canoeing and jet skiing activities (where the activity is not defi ned by a Boat Hire Licence)

•      Petting zoo, petting farm, llama walking or similar

•      A musement arcades with automatic or other machines, including but not limited to video gaming machines, intended for entertainment or amusement which are not licensed in terms of the Gambling Act 2005

•      Escape rooms (including puzzle and breakout rooms)

•      Bouncy castles, any activity involving infl atable structures or similar structures, trampoline venues

•      Outdoor adventure or activity parks or anything similar to the foregoing

•      Sports or activities involving the transportation or propulsion of persons whether by mechanical or other means including gravity including Bungee jumping or catapulting

•      Fireworks or bonfi re displays

•      Torchlight processions

•      Agricultural, equestrian, livestock shows, dog shows or events including showing of animals

•      Major sporting events or fanzones associated with such events

•      Highland games

•      “ Boot camp” type organised exercise and fi tness activities (not personal unsupervised exercise)

•      Adult entertainment defi ned as any form of entertainment which involves a person performing an act or erotic or sexually explicit nature and is provided wholly or partly for the sexual gratifi cation or titillation of the audience

5)     The following public events/activities DO NOT require a licence under the said Section 41:

•      Small scale exhibitions of artwork

•      Small scale performance of live music which is incidental to the main purpose of the premises where the performance takes place

•      Small scale oral recitals including poetry reading and story telling

•      Small scale community non-profi t festivals, fetes, treasure hunts, duck derbys, galas, organised exercise and fi tness activities Definitions

“non-profi t” is understood to mean a non-commercial event held solely for the purpose of raising funds for the organisation holding the function and NOT for the purposes of making a profi t or deriving any other form of fi nancial benefi t by any person or organisation, and where ALL surplus funds raised by the event are utilised to further the aims and activities of the organisation holding the event

“place of public entertainment” means any place where members of the public are admitted or may use any of the facilities for the purposes of entertainment or recreation (detailed exclusions are listed in Section 41 (2) (a)- (h) of the Act

“small scale” is understood to mean a capacity of less than 200 persons at any one time.

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