Agenda and minutes

To confirm the appointment of Cllr Simon Inchbald as Chairman of the Licensing (General Purposes) Sub-Committee for the Council Year 2015/16.

Cllr Simon Inchbald was confirmed as Chairman of the Licensing (General Purposes) Sub-Committee for the Council year 2015/16.

To confirm the appointment of Cllr Patricia Ellis as Vice-Chairman of the Licensing (General Purposes) Sub-Committee for the Council Year 2015/16.

Cllr Patricia Ellis was confirmed as Vice-Chairman of the Licensing (General Purposes) Sub-Committee for the Council year 2015/16.

To confirm the Minutes of the Special Meeting held on 2 April 2015 (to be laid on the table half an hour before the meeting).

The Minutes of the Special Meeting held on 2 April 2015 were confirmed and signed.

To receive apologies for absence and to report any substitutions

An apology for absence had been received from Cllr Peter Isherwood.  Cllr Maurice Byham attended as a substitute.

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 interests declared under this heading.

There were no matters falling within this category.

The background papers relating to the following items are as set out in the reports included in the original agenda papers.

An application for a street trading permit has been received for the Cranleigh Lions Carnival and Fun Day to be held on Saturday 27 June.  The last date for comments on this application is Wednesday 24 June which is after the despatch of this agenda.  Any comments received following the closing date will be reported to the Sub-Committee for discussion and determination.

An application for a street trading permit had been received for the Cranleigh Lions Carnival and Fund Day to be held on Saturday 27 June 2015.  The last date for comments on the application was Wednesday 24 June 2015.  The Sub-Committee was advised that no comments had been received and therefore there was no requirement for action from the Sub-Committee.

This report gives details of an application received for a street collection permit, the proceeds of which are intended to benefit Go Godalming in funding the running of concerts at the Bandstand, Godalming to entertain the community free. The organisation is not a registered charity in the UK.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Committee considers whether it would wish to grant extra street collection permits to GO GODALMING for 2015, as described in this report.

The Sub-Committee duly considered an application received for a street collection permit, the proceeds of which were intended to benefit Go Godalming in funding the running of concerts at the Bandstand, Godalming to entertain the community free of charge.

The Council regulates street collections and the Sub-Committee noted that any individual or organisation applying was usually permitted only four collections per year.  The application before them requested street collection permits for a number in excess of that.

The Sub-Committee interprets policy and has the delegated power to deviate from policy when there were exceptional circumstances and compelling reasons to do so. 

The series of events that gave rise to the application now under consideration were a repeat of similar annual programmes which had been held for each of the last nine years.  They could not be described as exceptional.  The Sub-Committee felt that it did not have the power to sanction what had become a routine exception to policy. If such an extensive series of events were to be authorised, the Committee felt that it could only be done following an amendment to the policy and the Sub-Committee would therefore ask the Licensing and Regulatory Committee to consider making a recommendation to the Council that the policy be amended.

The Sub-Committee recognised that the planned concerts were valuable community events and needed to be funded.

To comply with Waverley’s Regulations (requirement for collector to occupy a stationary position), any collections should be on arrival or departure at the bandstand and not whilst attendees were seated.  The Sub-Committee requested that the Go Godalming Website and other internet sites advertising the concerts would be amended to ensure that it was made clear there would be a collection taking place at each concert.

The Sub-Committee withdrew at 12.27pm to make their decision and returned at 13.32pm.  During their deliberations the Council’s Solicitor was asked to advise the Sub-Committee on the wording of their decision.

The Sub-Committee RESOLVED to grant permission for the next three concerts on 28 June, 5 and 19 July.  The Sub-Committee gave conditional approval to the following dates 26 July, 9, 16,23 and 30 August and 6 and 13 September, subject to them being consistent with an amended policy by the Council.  However, if the amended policy required changes to printed promotional material, the Sub-Committee would grant exemption for this year only.

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

Recommendation

That pursuant to Procedure Rule 20 and in accordance with Section 100A(4) 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 100I of the Act) of the description specified in paragraph 1 of the revised Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act in respect of the following item:

Information relating to any individual (paragraph 1)

RESOLVED 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 100I of the Act) of the description specified in paragraph 1 of the revised Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act, namely:-

Information relating to any individual (paragraph 1)

To consider the attached [Exempt] report.

The driver attended the meeting to be interviewed by the Sub-Committee and to present his case. 

Following questions by the Sub-Committee and responses from the driver the Sub-Committee withdrew at 14.40pm.

Following the Sub-Committee’s deliberation the meeting resumed at 15.30pm.  The Council’s Solicitor had been asked to advise the Sub-Committee During their deliberation on the wording of their decision.

RESOLVED  that Mr F S was a fit and proper person to hold a Hackney Carriage/Private Hire driver’s licence for the reasons set out in the [Exempt] Annexe to these minutes.