Meeting Details

Apologies were received from Councillors Dean, Jepson, Langdon-Morris, Plummer, Robinson, Smith-Lyte, Wilson, Topping, Candy and Folley.

Councillor Back attended as Councillor Robinson's substitute.

On the proposition of Councillor Hedgley, seconded by Councillor Craig it was

 RESOLVED

 That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 July 2024 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Committee received report ES/2127 of the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health which related to the Licensing of Jet Skis.

Councillor Reeves introduced the report and outlined the purpose of the report which was to consider whether the council should consult on licensing the operators of jet skis let out for hire or used for carrying passengers for hire and what conditions, if any, should be imposed if the Council was to decide to license jet ski operators.  It was noted that individual private owners/users of jet skis would not be impacted by any decision to licence operators because ownership and usage of jet skis for private personal use was not licensable. The report set out the background legal position, the concerns to date raised with licensing services, environmental health and asset management, as well as the options and recommendations.

The Licensing Manager and Housing Lead Lawyer reiterated that the item only related to private operators and recommended that a consultation should be considered to enable the impact that any decision may have on operators of jet skis to be considered.

The Chair invited questions from the Committee.

Councillor Hedgley expressed concern that private jet ski owners were not covered by a licence.

The Licensing Manager and Housing Lead Lawyer confirmed that only private operators were within the licensing committee remit and private use of Jet Skis was not unregulated, there were regulations and the enforcement authority is the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). 

Councillor Hedgley confirmed that he was not against the consultation and fully supported it.

Councillor Thompson questioned what extra powers the Council had to regulate jet ski usage. The Licensing Manager and Housing Lead Lawyer confirmed it would be a Public Space Protection Order and to issue this, they would need to demonstrate that activities taking place or likely to take place were detrimental to local residents and persistently unreasonable. Evidence would need to be gathered to support this and this was not within the remit of the Licensing team or Committee.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services confirmed that Cabinet would have the power to introduce a Public Space Protection Order and if required a report would have to go to Cabinet on that matter.

There being no further questions, the Chair invited the Committee to debate the recommendation. 

 Councillor Hedgley voiced his concerns about jet skis in public spaces and noted that should the recommendation be considered then these concerns would likely be voiced.

In response to Councillor Thompson it was confirmed that every relevant party would be consulted with as part of the public consultation.

Councillor Patience proposed that the consultation was carried out and Councillor Hedgley seconded.  It was

RESOLVED

That the Committee resolves that a consultation with the public and interested parties take place with regards to the possible licensing of Jet Skis let out for hire or to be used for carrying passengers for hire in particular considering but not limited to the following: 

a. Whether the Council should license Jet Skis? 
b. What conditions if any should be imposed? 
c. What minimum specification should be required? 
d. Should zones of operations be imposed? 
e. Should dates and times of operation be imposed? 
f. How should the policy be enforced? 

The Committee received report ES/2130 of the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health which related to the approval of licensing fees and charges for 2025/26.

Councillor Reeves introduced the report which outlined that the Council’s Licensing Committee was responsible for licensing the following:

1. Licensing Act 2003 Licenses
2. Taxis and Private Hire Vehicle/Operators/Drivers
3. Pleasure boats
4. Gambling Act 2005 Premises
5. Sex Establishments
6. Street Trading.

A summary of all fees to be set was outlined to the Committee as seen in Appendix A of the report and it was noted that there would be no change to street trading as this was currently undergoing a consultation or pavement licensing as they were only set in July 2024.

The Chair invited questions from the Committee.

In response to Councillor Hedgley, the Licensing Manager and Housing Lead Lawyer confirmed that when fees were set inflation rates were taken into consideration.

There being no further questions or debate, on the proposition of Councillor Hedgley, seconded by Councillor Thompson it was 

RESOLVED

That Licensing Committee: 

Recommend to Cabinet the approval of the proposed table of fees and charges for the year 2025/26, at Appendix A, to be implemented on the 1st April 2025

The Committee received report ES/2131 of the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health which related to the draft revised edition of the Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles.

The report was introduced by Councillor Reeves who told the Committee that Section 349 of the Gambling Act 2005 regulated most of the gambling in the UK except the national lottery and online gambling.  The Gambling Act has 3 main core principles, which are: 

• Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime
• Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way
• Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

The Committee was informed that the council is required to prepare and publish a statement of licensing principles every 3 years and the current statement was due to be renewed on 31 January 2025. Therefore, a consultation was carried out from 26 September to 14 October 2024, during which there was one response from Gamcare. The licensing committee is required to approve a revised edition of statement of principles so that full council can adopt the statement in its November meeting.  The minor amendments made to the statement were outlined to the Committee.
The Chair invited questions from the Committee.

Councillor Hedgley noted the volume of work that had gone into the review and thanked the licensing team for all of their work. 

There being no debate, on the proposition of Councillor Hedgley and seconded by Councillor Craig, it was 

RESOLVED

That Committee:

1. Considers any comments received during the public consultation and make any amendments to the Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles as a result of those comments if necessary.
2. Approves a revised edition of the Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles to present to full Council in November 2024.

The Committee received report ES/2134 of the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health which related Street Trading in East Suffolk.

The report was introduced by Councillor Reeves who outlined that the Licensing Committee had resolved to adopt a district wide street trading policy in accordance with Paragraph 2, Schedule 4 of the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1982 to control street trading. The Licensing Committee had already approved two consultations, the results of which had been reported back to the Licensing Committee in October 2023 and January 2024.  Views were sought on the proposals to change the policy and on which streets should become prohibited in towns and parishes

Since the consultations had taken place it had become apparent that once deemed prohibited, no street trading whatsoever could take place, this would include any community events which include some form of street trading, eg stalls. Therefore to protect community events a proposal to include consent streets has been consulted on.  This consultation ran from 7 august 2024 to 20 September 2024. The Committee was told if a street is prohibited then no street trading can take place at all and a consent street meant community event involving street trading but no other trading. The committee would decide which streets could be consented or prohibited.

Following this decision, it will go out to consultation again and return to the Licensing Committee in January 2025 for a final decision. There would be a consent fee of £350 for each consent which would be for one street for one year.

The Chair invited questions from the Committee.

 In response to Councillor Fisher, the Licensing Manager and Housing Lead Lawyer clarified the difference between undesignated and consent streets.

•  Undesignated – not subject to street trading regime, licence not required to trade, however need permission of land owner as appropriate.

• Consent – needs council consent to trade at a cost of £350 per year.

On the proposition of Councillor Hedgley, seconded by Councillor Thompson it was 

RESOLVED

That Committee: 

1. Considers the consultation responses and approves the process of having Prohibited streets (where no street trading can take place whatsoever) and Consent Streets. All other streets will be undesignated.
2. Approves the fee for a Street Trading Consent application fee of £350.
3. Approves a consultation regarding the suggested designations. 

The Committee received report ES/2129 of the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health, which provided an overview of the issued Licences and work of the Licensing Sub-Committee during the period July to September 2024. The report was introduced by Councillor Candy and was taken as read. There being no questions to Councillor Candy, it was by general assent RESOLVED That the Committee:

RESOLVED

That Committee:

Notes the overview of some of the work of the Licensing Team and the Licensing Sub-Committees during the third quarter of 2024