Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and to report any substitutions

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Maxine Gale. 

The Committee recorded a vote of thanks to Cllr Peter Clark who had resigned from the committee due to other commitments.  The Chairman welcomed Cllr Jerry Hyman to the Committee in his place.  

To elect a Vice-Chairman of the Committee, following the resignation of Cllr Clark.

Following the resignation of Cllr Peter Clark it was necessary to elect a new Vice Chairman.  Cllr Ruth Reed nominated Cllr Michael Goodridge and Cllr Jacquie Keen seconded the nomination. 

The committee unanimously AGREED  to the nomination and Cllr Goodridge was elected.

To appoint Member(s) to fill the vacancies on the Licensing & Regulatory Sub-committees as shown below.

Following the resignation of Cllr Peter Clark from the Licensing & Regulatory Committee, there is a vacancy on the following Sub-Committees to be filled from among the Members of the Licensing & Regualatory Committee:

-        Licensing (General Purposes) Sub-Committee

-        Licensing Act 2003 Sub-Committee A

Following Cllr Clark’s resignation there was a vacancy on the Licencing Act 2003 Sub-Committee A and the Licensing and General Purposes Sub-Committee.

Cllr Jacquie Keen volunteered to take up the vacancy on the Licensing and General Purposes Sub-Committee and Cllr Michaela Martin volunteered to fill the vacancy on Licencing Act 2003 Sub-Committee A.

The Committee agreed to both appointments.

To receive from members declarations of interest in relation to any items included on the agenda for this meeting, in accordance with the Waverley Code of Local Government Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest submitted.

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from Members in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.

The deadline for submission of written questions for this meeting is Thursday 23^rd July 2020.

There were no questions from members submitted.

Background Papers

Unless specified under an individual item, there are no background papers (as defined by Section 100D(5) of the Local Government Act 1972) relating to the reports in Part I of these minutes.

1.1         The Government has swiftly introduced through Parliament a new streamlined process to apply for a “Pavement Licence”.  After proceeding through the Commons and Lords stages, on 21 July, the Commons accepted all amendments proposed by the Lords and has passed both Houses of Parliament. At the time of writing, Royal Assent is awaited (a formality) and it is anticipated that this final stage will be reached shortly. This temporary authorisation will short-circuit the usual suite of consents required under the Highways Act and planning law. The purpose of the new licence is to help the struggling hospitality sector in a time of social distancing.

1.2         It is proposed that this new procedure will be administered by district and borough councils in non-unitary Council areas and Waverley will therefore need to adopt a policy, set the fee and delegate to officers the authority to issue, amend and or refuse licences, and deal with enforcement.

1.3         This report therefore proposes a policy for Waverley Borough Council attached at Annexe A, a fee level and seeks delegation to officers for the issue, amendment and or refusal of licenses, as well as enforcement of the new arrangements.

1.4         This report also advises on changes to the licensing laws which will allow premises with a premises licence for on-sales of alcohol to sell off-sales without the need to apply for a formal variation to their licence in the usual way, which are limited to 11pm at the latest and new permissions for off-sales do not apply to times when the premises licence foes not allow sales of alcohol for consumption in outdoor areas of the premises.

Recommendation

The Council be recommended to:

·         Adopt the policy set out in Annexe A

·         Set the fee for a pavement licence at £100

·         Delegate authority to the Head of Environmental and Regulatory Services to issue pavement licences and/or authority to refuse or amend pavement licences in consultation with the Portfolio holder for Operational and Enforcement Services.

·         Delegate authority to Head of Environmental and Regulatory Services in relation to enforcement powers under the new proposed legislation (the Business and Planning Act 2020 once enacted).

·         Delegate authority to the Head of Environmental and Regulatory Services to make minor or consequential amendments to the Policy and Licence conditions in the event of any amendments/ updating statutory instruments and or government guidance in consultation with the Chairman of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee.

Richard Homewood, Head of Environmental & Regulatory Services, outlined the report and associated draft policy attached to the agenda.

He advised that the government had introduced through Parliament a new streamlined ‘temporary’ process to apply for a ‘Pavement License’, to assist in business recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdown. The Business and Planning Act had been passed on 21 July 2020, including a late change that made the Pavement Licensing function a Council function rather than an Executive function.

The Committee asked how many licenses he expected to receive applications for and Mr Homewood advised they were estimating approximately 60.  He pointed out that not all premises would need a license if they had a private forecourt.

Cllr Hyman provided detailed comments on editing and content of the report and policy and asked for clarification within the policy on a number of matters including time periods for determining applications, use of barriers, and distancing. Committee members also noted that there were some inconsistencies in the conditions in relation to use of outdoor heaters, for example. Mr Homewood thanked Members for their detailed comments

The Committee endorsed the principle of the policy and the need to help businesses recover from the lockdown, and RESOLVED to recommend that Council:

      i.        Adopts the policy set out in Annexe A.

     ii.        Sets the fee for a pavement license at £100.

    iii.        Delegates authority to the Head of Environmental and Regulatory Services to issue pavement licences and/or authority to refuse or amend pavement licences in consultation with the Chairman of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee.

   iv.        Delegates authority to the Head of Environmental and Regulatory Services in relation to enforcement powers under the new proposed legislation (the Business and Planning act 2020 once enacted).

     v.        Delegates authority to the Head of Environmental and Regulatory Services to make minor or consequential amendments to the Policy and Licence conditions in the event of any amendments/ updating statutory instruments and or government guidance in consultation with the chairman of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee.

To consider the following recommendation on the motion of the Chairman:-

Recommendation

That pursuant to Procedure Rule 20 and in accordance with Section 100B(5) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during the items, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information (as defined by Section 100l of the Act) of the description specified in the appropriate paragraph(s) of the revised Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act (to be identified, as necessary, at the meeting).

There were no items to discuss in exempt session so the Chairman closed the meeting.