Meeting Details

Licensing Committee
20 Jul 2020 - 18:30 to 19:13
Occurred
  • Documents
  • Attendance
  • Visitors
  • Declarations of Interests

Documents

Agenda

Meeting Details
Meetingdetails
MeetingDetailsCOVID19

Members are invited to a Meeting of the Licensing Committee

to be held on Monday, 20 July 2020 at 6.30pm

 

This meeting will be conducted remotely, pursuant to the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020.

 

The meeting will be facilitated using the Zoom video conferencing system and broadcast via the East Suffolk Council YouTube channel at  https://youtu.be/MmxIu2HTg84

 

Part One - Open To The Public
1 Apologies for Absence and Substitutions
1
Apologies for Absence were received from Councillor Smith-Lyte. 
2 Declarations of Interest

Members and Officers are invited to make any declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary or Local Non-Pecuniary Interests that they may have in relation to items on the Agenda and are also reminded to make any declarations at any stage during the Meeting if it becomes apparent that this may be required when a particular item or issue is considered.

2
There were no Declarations of Interest. 
3 pdf Minutes (144Kb)
To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2020.
3

It was proposed by Councillor Goldson, seconded by Councillor Wiles and by majority vote (one abstention) 

 

RESOLVED

 

That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 20 January 2020 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Report of the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health
4

The Committee received report ES/0407 by the Cabinet Member for Community Health. The report, presented by the Senior Licensing Officer, referred to the implementation of a National Register of Taxi  Licence (also incorporating Private Hire) Revocations and Refusals and sought the Committee's approval of the adoption of the Register and associated guidance. The Committee was reminded that, when considering applications for hackney carriage and private hire vehicle drivers licences, the Council, as Licensing Authority, was responsible for ensuring that only fit and proper persons, suitable to be licensed drivers, were granted a licence and remained licensed. It was suggested that adoption of the National Register would provide a licence history nationally and so help to ensure applicants who had failed to disclose that a licence had previously been refused or revoked by another authority were not licensed in error. 

 

The Chairman invited questions from the members of the Committee. 

 

A member asked about the present arrangements and what would happen if an applicant failed to disclose that a previous licence had been refused or revoked. The Senior Licensing Officer said that, at the moment, there was no means of checking with other licensing authorities and, consequently, it was possible that a driver might be licensed without knowledge of the reasons for a prior revocation or refusal.  

 

Another member of the Committee asked if a taxi driver would be able to access the database. The Senior Licensing Officer said this would not be possible, but a driver could ask to be told what information was held that related to him/her. The member also asked about the security of the Register which, for the time being, would be accessed by officers who were working at home. The Legal and Licensing Services Manager referred to the requirements on officers to comply with the Council's Working from Home Policy and also of the Officers' Code of Conduct which specified how confidential matters, including personal details, were to be managed in confidence. 

 

There was general agreement that the National Register offered an improved system which would help to safeguard local residents and make the work of Officers easier.

 

There being no further questions or matters raised for debate, the Chairman moved to the recommendation. It was proposed by Councillor Goldson, seconded by Councillor Hedgley and by unanimous vote 

 

RESOLVED

 

That the adoption of the National Register of Taxi Licence Revocations and Refusals (also known as NR3) and the associated Guidance produced by the Local Government Association and the National Anti-Fraud Network be approved 

Report of the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health
5

The Committee received report ES/0408 by the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health. The report, which was presented by the Senior Licensing Officer, documented the responses to the six-week consultation on the proposed draft Drug Testing Policy for New and Existing Licensed Drivers, as agreed by the Licensing Committee at its meeting in January 2020.  The Committee was informed that during the consultation period no comments had been received on the draft policy.

 

The Chairman invited questions from members of the Committee. 

 

A member of the Committee asked who had been consulted on the draft policy. The Senior Licensing Officer said all existing licensed private hire and hackney carriage drivers and private hire operators within the district had been notified of the draft policy by letter. 

 

There was general support for the draft policy. 

 

There being no further questions or matters raised for debate, the Chairman moved to the recommendation which was proposed by Councillor Ashdown, seconded by Councillor Newton and by unanimous vote

 

RESOLVED

 
That the draft Policy for Detecting the use of Illegal Drugs be adopted

Report of the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health
6

The Committee received report ES/0441 by the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health. The report, presented by the Legal and Licensing Services Manager, provided an overview of the actions taken by Licensing Services to assist licensees during the Covid-19 global pandemic and currently, during the easing of the lock down arrangements and the recovery phase. 

 

The Legal and Licensing Services Manager referred to the severe adverse impact on the licensed premises between 23 March and 4 July 2020 and summarised the main steps Licensing Services had taken in support of licensees: 

  • The deferral of payments of Premises Licence Fees until 30 September 2020
  • Assisting premises on how to provide takeaways and off sales
  • Issuing credits for application fees for Temporary Event Notices for events which were unable to proceed
  • Signposting central government grants and hardship funds to those who may have been eligible to claim 

He continued to outline the support provided to hackney carriage and private hire drivers: 

  • Allowing the cost of renewing an annual licence to be spread by granting three-month licences 
  • Identifying alternative garages for mechanical inspections to enable vehicles to remain licensed
  • Allowing drivers to install protective screens in vehicles without an alteration to the vehicle's specification being required
  • Signposting central government grants and hardship funds to those who may have been eligible to claim

 

With regard to community events, the Committee was informed that the Council wanted to encourage outdoor events during the summer months and so a simplified application process for a single event trading licence had been implemented including a commitment to consider the application within 24 hours of receipt. 

 

The Legal and Licensing Services Manager said the Business and Planning Bill was currently going through Parliament; it would allow the Licensing Authority to issue Pavement Licences to enable the use of pavements outside licensed premises for tables and chairs.

 

The Committee was referred to the analysis of the impact of Covid-19 and to the identifiable trends that were emerging. The Legal and Licensing Services Manager said that a more accurate reflection of the impact would be provided to the October meeting of the Committee and he assured the members of the continued efforts of Licensing Services to address the challenges faced by the licensing trade and to aid the regrowth of this sector. It was confirmed that the table on page 47 (paragraph 5.5) of the report included public houses, restaurants, off licences, social clubs etc. 

 

The Chairman invited questions by members of the Committee. 

 

A member of the Committee referred to the use of Council land by licensed premises and asked how long the licences would be valid. It was explained that the land licences were being issued by Asset Management and were valid for six months with no fee. 

 

The Committee wished to record its thanks to the Licensing Services officers for all their work during a very challenging period. 

 

There being no further questions or matters raised for debate, the Chairman moved to the recommendation. It was proposed by Councillor Goldson, seconded by Councillor Ashdown and, by unanimous vote

 

RESOLVED

 

That, having received and commented upon the report, the Committee noted its contents. 

Report of the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health
7

The Committee received report ES/0409 by the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Community Health. The report, presented by the Legal and Licensing Services Manager, provided an overview of the current number and type of licences issued by the Council. The report also summarised the applications received and the work of the Licensing Sub-Committee since the start of 2020. 

 

The Committee noted that one virtual meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee had been held. This had been successfully conducted remotely and favourably commented upon by the external participants. The Senior Licensing Officer said there were currently five very recently received premises licence applications; he added that applications from new taxi drivers would not be accepted until 20 August 2020 because of the face-to-face element of the application process. 

 

There being no questions or matters raised for debate, the Chairman moved to the recommendation. It was proposed by Councillor Goldson, seconded by Councillor Newton and by unanimous vote 

 

RESOLVED

 

That, having received and commented upon the report, the Committee noted its contents 

8 Exempt/Confidential Items

It is recommended that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.     

8

It was proposed by Councillor Goldson, seconded by Councillor Wiles, and by unanimous vote 

 

RESOLVED 

 

That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act

Part Two - Confidential
9 Exempt Minutes
  • Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Declarations of Interests

Member NameItem Ref.DetailsNature of DeclarationAction
No declarations of interest have been entered for this meeting.

Visitors

Officers present:
Katherine Abbott (Democratic Services Officer), Teresa Bailey (Senior Licensing Officer), Chris Bing (Legal and Licensing Services Manager), Sarah Carter (Democratic Services Officer)