Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Priya Patel  01344 352233

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interests in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

 

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

 

Any Member with an affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting and must not participate in discussion of the matter or vote on the matter unless granted a dispensation by the Monitoring officer or by the Governance and Audit Committee. There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 115 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the Annual Committee held on 24 May 2017 and the Committee meeting on 5 January 2017.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 24 May 2017 and 5 January 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

3.

Urgent Items of Business

Any other items which, pursuant to Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman decides are urgent.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

4.

Notice of Public Speaking

To note those agenda items which have received an application for public speaking.

Minutes:

It was noted that no members of the public had registered to speak at the meeting.

5.

Introduction to Joint Public Protection Arrangements

An introductory briefing from Paul Anstey, Public Protection Manager on progress with joint arrangements.

Minutes:

The Public Protection Manager briefed the Committee on progress with joint arrangements and made the following points:

 

·         The joint partnership had now been in place since January 2017. The partnership was governed by the Joint Public Protection Partnership Committee which included six members, with two Members being drawn from each local authority. The Committee had its first meeting on 14 March 2017. All information on the Committee could be found online on any of the three Council websites.

·         The Public Protection Manager’s role included reporting into the management board, guiding, supporting, scrutinising and challenging.

·         The Business Plan identified priorities of the joint partnership and it was important to note that none of the governance of the joint partnership strayed into the territory of each Council’s respective Licensing & Safety Committee.

·         Laura Driscoll would be the lead officer for L&S Committee’s across the three local authorities.

·         The Public Protection manager would be undertaking preliminary work to get an understanding of what was important to each respective local authority and he would be moving around the Council offices of all three authorities.

6.

Minutes of Licensing Panels pdf icon PDF 135 KB

To note the minutes of Licensing Panels held on 8 February 2017 and 12 June 2017.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the minutes of the Licensing Panels held on 8 February 2017 and 12 June 2017.

7.

Animal Boarding Establishments: Licence Conditions pdf icon PDF 191 KB

To approve the adoption of the Model Licence Conditions for Boarding Establishments as detailed in attached Annexes C and D.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the adoption of the Model Licence Conditions for Boarding Establishments as published by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) in 2013 (cats) and (2016) dogs. It was reported that one response had been received to the consultation exercise. This response asked that the model conditions were not imposed on every establishment in their entirety. This was accepted as the Council would be adopting a pool of model conditions, they may not apply in every case for every establishment.

 

It was reported that a record of the variations for each establishment would be logged.

 

It was reported that if there was a breach in conditions, officers would consider the harm caused and take action on that basis. 

 

RESOLVED that the Committee approved the adoption of the Model Licence Conditions document at Annexes C and D as follows:

i)              With immediate effect for any new licences issued and

ii)             from 1 January 2018 for any existing licence holders.

8.

Safeguarding Training for Licensed Drivers and Operators pdf icon PDF 116 KB

To agree that the test element of the safeguarding training be removed in those cases where trainers raise concerns around the levels of comprehension of any attendees on the course.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a proposal to remove the formal test required on completion of this training. It was reported that trainers had asked that the test be removed on recommendation from Reading Borough’s Safeguarding team, on the grounds that they did not require the inclusion of the test for any other groups like school staff, after school clubs and children’s club organisers.

 

The Committee expressed concern at removing the test entirely and queried whether a verbal test could be used instead. The Committee also expressed concern that training sessions were being delivered with over 50 attendees. It was confirmed that locally training groups would consist of between 20-25.

 

The Committee were clear that there should be assurance that each driver has recorded that they have attended and understood the content of the training session.

It was reported that one of the expectations on trainers was that they needed to identify to the Council any drivers who were struggling to understand.

 

The Committee noted that properly trained and informed licensed drivers put themselves in a better position to deal with any Child Sexual Exploitation issues. To protect both themselves and young people.

 

The Committee agreed that this item be deferred to allow further consideration. It was reported that there could be a proposed solution from the Public Protection Partnership for the whole area.

 

RESOLVED that the item be deferred to allow an opportunity to be considered further and brought back to the Committee.

9.

Street Trading - Bracknell Town Centre pdf icon PDF 104 KB

To agree that the Council’s Street Trading Consent Conditions be updated and that the arrangements for the determination of applications for street trading consents on or within the roads and public areas of Bracknell Town Centre as defined in the plan at Annex B, including the proposed revised fee detailed in 5.5 be administered as set out in Annex C.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered its position on street trading now that the town centre regeneration was nearing completion. It was reported that it was important that any street trading in the new town centre was appropriate and complemented the offer of the town centre.

 

It was reported that the revised fee detailed in paragraph 5.5 of the report would allow cost recovery. It was reported that the map contained in the agenda should be labelled as annex B.

 

RESOLVED that  

 

                    i)          the Council’s Street Trading Consent Conditions be updated as per Annex A with immediate effect for all future consents issued, and

 

                   ii)          the arrangements for the determination of applications for street trading consents on or within the roads and public areas of Bracknell Town Centre as defined in the plan at Annex B, including the proposed revised fee detailed in 5.5 be administered as set out in Annex C of the agenda papers.

10.

House of Lords Select Committee Review of Licensing Act 2003 pdf icon PDF 123 KB

To note the information report.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the information report.

11.

Annual Report pdf icon PDF 131 KB

An information report to appraise the Committee of activities carried out by the Licensing Section during the period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the Annual Report.

 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk