Agenda and minutes

Venue: Online Only - Zoom

Contact: Lizzie Rich  01344 352253

Media

Items
No. Item

14.

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.  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.

15.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 138 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 24 June 2021

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 June 2021 were approved as a correct record.

16.

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 Urgent Items of Business.

17.

Notice of Public Speaking

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

Minutes:

There were no applications for public speaking.

18.

Statement of Gambling Principles pdf icon PDF 130 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

David Lucas of James Button & Co attended the meeting to present the final version of the Statement of Gambling Principles.

 

The Statement had to be prepared every 3 years, and the previous Statement had been updated including a change of description of the borough.

 

The document had gone out to consultation and had received no responses, comments or objections.

 

Having discussed the matter, it was RESOLVED that:

 

1                 The outcome of the consultation be noted.

 

2                   The amendments to the draft Statement of Gambling Principles arising from the consultation be agreed.

 

3                   Authority be delegated to the Public Protection Partnership Manager, in consultation with the Chairman of the Licensing and Safety Committee Chairman, to make any minor corrections to the report prior to inclusion in the council agenda.

 

4                 The Statement be recommended to Full Council for adoption.

19.

Fees and Charges 2022/23 pdf icon PDF 486 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report on the fees and charges which had been considered at the Joint Public Protection Committee on the 13 September 2021. The fees and charges were being considered by each Licensing & Safety Committee within the Public Protection Partnership and would go through the system to sign off by Full Council.

 

The fees had been aligned across the Public Protection Partnership as officers were in the process of moving to a set of standardised processes and systems across all Partnership authorities. The new IT system would allow for significant efficiencies to be made in some areas, and these efficiencies would be passed on to the trade. An example was a reduction in new and renewal Hackney Carriage licences which had both reduced due to the reduction in processing time due to the new system. 

 

Members of the taxi trade had fed back that they had concerns about the additional cost of mandatory safeguarding and disability training. In response to this concern, driver renewal fees now included the cost of mandatory training which would be delivered inhouse. 

 

The schedule included a mix of discretionary and statutory fees, and it was recognised that officers did not have control of statutory fees. A £59 hourly fee had been set going forward.

 

It was noted that the street trading offers across the two Partnership authorities had been aligned to offer five different street trading consent periods. This change would offer Bracknell Forest traders significant savings.

 

In response to questions, the following points were noted:

·        Members welcomed the reduction in some savings which would help traders and small businesses across the borough, and thanked officers for their work in creating these efficiencies in the new system.

·        Members were assured that the new shared service with West Berkshire would be refocussed on the priorities of the remaining two authorities after Wokingham left the Public Protection Partnership.

·        Negotiations were ongoing around Wokingham’s request to retain some of the Public Protection Partnership’s services, but members were assured that any arrangement would be subject to agreement from Bracknell Forest and West Berkshire.

·        It was noted that during the pandemic, there had been challenges for the taxi trade in accessing DBS checks and drivers had been required to use the West Berkshire system based on Bracknell Forest’s building closures. The DBS check fee would always be based on the cost of the authority for DBS checks and would return to the Bracknell Forest fee when the building was re-opened for checks to be carried out.

·        Drivers could sign up for a DBS update service which cost £13 per year, which was a reduction on the current fee. The update service would eventually be mandatory for all drivers.

·        Officers were confident that the issues around dog boarding and animal licences from the previous year’s fees and charges would not be repeated, as the fees had been reduced and the level of compliance had gone up over the year.

·        It was suggested that the schedule be amended before going  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

20.

Licensing Act 2003 Delegations pdf icon PDF 255 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report on the Licensing Act 2003 which corrected some areas in the scheme of delegations. The changes were in regards to a reference to S134A which should read S132A, a change to make the power to suspend or revoke a personal licence a sub-committee decision, and a change to make the early morning alcohol licence a Council decision rather than Executive decision as was set out in the legislation.

 

It was RESOLVED that:

 

1         The Chief Executive be recommended to sign off the changes in light of the authority delegated to them to do so at the Council meeting in April 2021.

 

2         The Monitoring Officer be delegated authority to make any changes to the Constitution arising from this report.

21.

Annual Report 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 158 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the Annual Report of the Licensing section over 2020/21.

 

In response to questions, it was noted:

·        Members welcomed a clear annual report.

·        The detail behind the number of complaints and requests for service could not be separated in this instance, but it was noted that the complaints received would have been about a license holder rather than about the Public Protection Partnership service. Officers agreed to separate out the complaints and requests for service for the next year’s annual report.

·        Members requested that for next year’s annual report, the number of refusals and suspensions be separated.

·        It was noted that next year, the annual report would be brought before Committee earlier in the year.

 

Members noted the Annual Report.

22.

Taxi Liaison Update

Minutes:

The Committee received a verbal update on the taxi trade group since the last Committee meeting.

 

The trade group had met virtually on 4 October with eight trade representatives present. The meeting had covered the fees and charges, the change to offer drivers 3 year licences only, illegal parking on taxi ranks, drivers’ concerns around Jubilee Gardens, safeguarding training, and repairs to the train station rank. Environmental Health officers had done a presentation on anti-idling and it was hoped that drivers could be ambassadors for this on home to school transport.

 

 A draft of a new Private Hire and Hackney Carriage policy would be presented to the Committee in February which addressed a number of concerns and outstanding actions arising from the trade meetings.

 

In response to questions, the following points were noted:

·      Members thanked officers for their efforts in maintaining a continuous dialogue with the trade and for addressing their concerns. It was noted that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Committee had attended all the trade meetings to further improve the relationship.

·        Members held a minutes’ silence for two drivers who had passed away in recent months and gave their condolences to the families of these drivers.

23.

Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 167 KB

Minutes:

Members noted the Forward Plan for future committees.

 

Officers were reminded to include the Annual Report and review of street trading consent for future meetings.

24.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

Members were informed of the outcome of the SS Food and Wines licensing panel which had been to appeal. The magistrates had found in favour of the Council, and the licence had been suspended for 3 months. The licence had been further extended as the premise owner had taken time to vary their Designated Premises Supervisor and the licence had remained suspended until this variation had been finalised.

 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk