Meeting documents

The minutes of the meeting held on 13^th June 2017, copies of which had been circulated, were taken as read, and having been approved were signed by the Chairman as a correct record of the proceedings.

The minutes of the Licensing Sub Committee meetings held on 13^th June 2017 and 4th September 2017 were approved and signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Clare Aparicio Paul, Neil Bloomfield, Tony Lock and Martin Wale.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

a)    Questions/comments from members of the public

This is a chance for members of the public and representatives of Parish/Town Councils to participate in the meeting by asking questions, making comments and raising matters of concern.

No questions or comments were raised by members of the public.

The Licensing Manager explained that the introduction of a pre-application assistance and advice service would enable applicants to produce better quality licensing applications which were more likely to be acceptable to the Council and the various responsible authorities.

He explained that in the past 12 months, the Licensing section had received 72 applications under the Licensing Act 2003 and all had required some help and advice from licensing officers.  

He referred members to the proposed fee structure as outlined in the agenda report and advised that there would still be some exemptions and gave an example of non-profit making organisations.

The Licensing Manager explained that there would be clear separation between officers who offer pre-application assistance and those who are responsible for the subsequent administration and determination of the application.

In response to questions and comments, the Licensing Manager advised members of the following:

·         An extra charge would not be made for general telephone calls; 

·         During an initial telephone call, officers would be able to assess the level of interest and could then offer pre-application advice;

·         There would be various packages for advice available and a refund could be given if the full amount of advice paid for was not given;

·         Registered charities would be exempt;

·         The costs outlined in the report were set on full cost recovery

Following a short discussion, members unanimously approved the recommendations of the report.

(Voting: unanimous)

The Licensing Enforcement Officer summarised the agenda report, which updated members on the work of the Licensing Enforcement Team and the various issues that they were currently involved with including Taxis & Private Hire Vehicles, Street Trading and Scrap Metal Dealers.

In response to questions and comments, the Licensing Enforcement Officer and Licensing Manager informed members of the following:

·         There were currently no issues with taxis drivers from other local authority areas operating in South Somerset;

·         Due to the Scrap Metal Dealers Act coming into force in 2013, the Police no longer considered metal theft as such a high profile issue;

·         A good rapport had been built up with taxi drivers and the majority of the time there was no issues.

The Licensing Manager referred to a recent mystery shopper exercise that had taken place with taxis and gave an update on the results.  He agreed to forward a copy of the report to members of the Licensing Committee.  He explained that he wished to repeat the exercise on a quarterly basis and also include the use of wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Members were content to note the report.

Members noted that the next meeting of the Licensing Committee would be held on Tuesday 12^th December 2017 at 10.00am in the Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil.