Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Arun Civic Centre, Maltravers Road, Littlehampton, BN17 5LF. View directions

Contact: Jane Fulton (Ext 37611) 

Media

Items
No. Item

103.

Declarations of Interest

Members and Officers are reminded to make any declarations of pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests that they may have in relation to items on this agenda and are reminded that they should re-declare their interest before consideration of the item or as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

 

Members and officers should make their declaration by stating :

 

a) the item they have the interest in

b) whether it is a pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial

c) the nature of the interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made.

104.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 42 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 3 March 2023 and to note the Minutes from the meetings of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 6 March, 20 March and 27 April 2023.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 3 March 2023 were approved by the Committee and signed by the Chair. Only those Members present at the previous meeting voted. All other Members abstained from the vote. The Minutes of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 6 March 2023, 20 March 2023 and 27 April 2023 were noted by the Committee.

105.

Items not on the Agenda which the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency by reason of special circumstances

Minutes:

The Chair confirmed that there were no urgent items.

106.

Public Question Time pdf icon PDF 73 KB

To receive questions from the public (for a period of up to 15 minutes).

Minutes:

The Chair invited questions from members of the public who had submitted their questions in advance of the meeting in accordance with the rules of the Council’s Constitution. The Chair confirmed that one question had been submitted. This was read out by the Committee Manager, as follows:

 

‘The Old Canal Caravan Site, Lidsey, is a residential Caravan Site licensed by Arun District Council. Site licence conditions since 2006 have required provision for foul drainage to be by way of  connection to a public sewer or sewage treatment works. However, 5 residential caravans are still connected to a cesspool which has an inadequate capacity, so residents cannot use their toilets, showers, or baths. Please can you explain why Site Licence conditions are not being complied with?’

 

A response was provided by the Chair, as follows:

 

‘Thank you for your question. Firstly, I am sorry to hear that residents are experiencing difficulties with the foul drainage system at this site. I understand that since your question was submitted officers have provided you with a more detailed response than I am able to offer here today. In summary, an enforcement notice has been served on the owners of the site which requires them to undertake a series of actions by given dates. The requirements of the site owner include that the existing system is emptied sufficiently frequently in the interim, that a competent person assesses the adequacy of the system, that this assessment report is provided to the Council, and that the site owner carries out any improvements needed to the system. Compliance with the enforcement notice is being monitored frequently by officers visiting the site and communicating with the site owner’s representative. If compliance is not forthcoming, the Council will consider formal enforcement action and undertaking works in default in line with its enforcement policy. Please be assured that the Council is committed to ensuring residents of the site have safe and suitable amenities and will keep them updated on progress.’

 

The Chair then drew Public Question Time to a close.

107.

Start Times

The Committee is asked to approve its start times for meetings during 2023/24.

Minutes:

The Chair introduced the item and noted that meetings were provisionally scheduled for 9.30am. Councillor McAuliffe proposed a 10am start time for the remaining meetings of Licensing Committee for 2023/24 to allow Members that used public transport or bicycle a little more time in the morning to arrive and get ready for meetings. This was seconded by Councillor Worne.

 

The Committee

 

RESOLVED

 

That the start time of all remaining meetings of the Committee for 2023/24 would be 10am.

108.

Licensing Hearing Procedures pdf icon PDF 91 KB

This report seeks the adoption of revised Licensing Sub-Committee hearing procedures in relation to Taxis and Licensing Act 2003 matters.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Environmental Health Team Manager presented the report which sought adoption of the revised Licensing Sub-Committee hearing procedures in relation to Taxis and non-Licensing Act matters, and Licensing Act 2003 matters. These had been reviewed and updated to ensure there was improved clarity and transparency of the procedures that would be used for each type of hearing. Clarification was sought on whether the onus was on Members to flag with Officers before sitting on a Licensing Sub-Committee panel if they had sat on Planning Committee at which an item relevant to a premises was heard or were the Ward Member for a ward in which a licensing application was located. The Environmental Health Team Manager advised that Officers would work with Committee Services colleagues to establish any potential conflicts, but that the onus was on Members to identify and manage these. Another Member raised the issue of conflicts based upon the work of Members’ spouses which Officers would not necessarily have a record of though some circumstances might be appear on a Member’s Declaration of Interest. It was accepted that some details only came to light once agenda papers had been circulated, at which point Panel Members must let Officers know about any potential conflicts of interest. The recommendations were then proposed by Councillor Blanchard-Cooper and seconded by Councillor Bence.

 

The Committee

 

RESOLVED – That

 

1.    The Licensing Committee adopt the revised hearing procedures for Licensing Act 2003 Sub-Committee hearing procedures;

 

2.    The Licensing Committee separately adopt the revised hearing procedures for Taxi Licensing to be added to the Taxi Licensing Statement of Policy;

 

3.    The Group Head of Technical Services in consultation with the Chair of the Licensing Committee be authorised to make minor changes to the licensing hearing procedures as may be required.

109.

Council Vision 2022-2023 Annual Report pdf icon PDF 93 KB

This report updates the Committee on progress towards key objectives within each theme for the year 2022-2023.   The full report will be presented to Committees as an important overview of council performance and sits alongside the key performance indicators (KPIs) for 2022-2023 which form the Corporate Plan.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Group Head of Organisational Excellence presented the report which sought to update the Committee on the end of year performance of the Vision indicators for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. It was explained for the benefit of new Councillors that the Council Vision for the period 2022-26 had been developed with Councillors at a series of workshops and then agreed by Full Council. The Vision was divided into 4 key themes - ‘Improving the wellbeing of Arun’, ‘Delivering the right homes in the right places’, ‘Supporting our environment to support us’, and ‘Fulfilling Arun’s economic potential’. There were overall aims for each of these themes and some specific objectives to be achieved over the four year period, and, though Policy and Finance Committee was responsible for overseeing performance across the Council, the full report was coming to the Committee so that Members had a comprehensive overview of performance across the Council. The Committee then noted the report.

110.

Q4/End of Year Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) pdf icon PDF 97 KB

This report updates the Committee on the Q4 and end of year Performance Outturn for the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which make up the Corporate Plan, for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Group Head of Organisational Excellence presented the report which sought to update the Committee on the Quarter 4 and end of year Performance Outturn for the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which made up the Corporate Plan, for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. It was explained that these indicators were measures of operational performance and the same indicators would be measured each year for the four year period to allow for comparison and trends to be measured both in-year and between years. The Chair noted the Committee’s single KPI [CP14 - percentage of licence applications determined within the various statutory or service time limits] and thanked Officers for their hard work in achieving 99% for the year, significantly above the 90% target. The Committee then noted the report.

111.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 34 KB

The Committee’s Work Programme for 2023-24 is attached for the Committee’s information.

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Work Programme.