Agenda and minutes

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

Contact: Andrew Bishop (Ext. 37984) 

Items
No. Item

247.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for Absence had been received from Councillors Hamilton and Staniforth.

248.

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.

249.

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.

250.

Public Question Time

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

Minutes:

The Chair confirmed that there had been no questions from the public submitted for this meeting.

251.

Start Times

The Committee is required to agree its start times for the municipal year 2021/22.

Minutes:

It was proposed and seconded that the remaining Licensing Committee meetings for 2021/22 continue to start at 9.30am.

 

The Committee

 

RESOLVED

 

that the start time of all remaining meetings of the Committee for 2021/22 would be 9.30am.

252.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 11 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 29 January 2021.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 29 January 2021 were approved by the Committee.

253.

Street Trading and Markets Policy pdf icon PDF 149 KB

This report provides a draft Street Trading and Markets Policy for consideration of the Licensing Committee with a proposal it is published for public consultation.

The pandemic has brought forward new demands for street trading activities both in terms of public demand and business opportunities, especially for local people. It is believed that introduction of a new policy will better support the needs of the local area.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Licensing Manager presented her report, noting that this was an opportunity to create a springboard for some positive contributions to the local area. She explained the history of street trading legislation, that Arun last adopted street trading controls in April 1987, the accelerated change over the last 18 months within the District and the need to respond to it, the Council receiving an increasing amount of enquiries from those wishing to street trade and in areas that the Council did not currently control, and local businesses looking to diversify and explore new opportunities. She further explained that the policy intended to use street trading as a means to enhance the local area and increase vibrancy and footfall, and also as an effective mechanism for dealing with anti-social behaviour. She concluded by outlining the process to follow in adopting the new policy and stressed that the policy was drafted so that the Licensing Authority could actively identify and promote opportunities for street trading. She confirmed that post-consultation the draft policy would return to Committee.

 

The Chair commended the Licensing Manager and her team on this piece of work, commenting that it would actively benefit the area and was excellently timed as there were a number of businesses in the District wanting to operate differently coming out of the pandemic. The Vice-Chair also thanked the Licensing Manager and her team and noted that the draft policy highlighted what the Council needed to do to control and improve what potentially could be the future of the District’s streets post-pandemic. Members then took part in a full debate on the item where a number of points were raised including whether streets not designated ‘prohibited’ could be added to this list at a later date, the lack of prohibited streets in Rustington, whether a summary of key points could be provided as it was a lengthy document, whether there was a design or style guide and the role of Officers in the approval process.

 

The Licensing Manager provided Members with answers to all points raised during the debate. She confirmed that streets could be added to the prohibited list at a later date, that stall specifications (how they were to be set out etc.) were listed in the appendices and that there would always be an element of subjectivity to ensure consistency in the decision-making due to the wide range of street trading offerings that could come forward. She also confirmed that, if approved, the draft policy would be made available on the Council’s website from Monday 13 September 2021 for a 6 week period, that people would be invited to make comments and give feedback, and that the webpage would include a summary of the document so people could understand in brief what it was about though the document by its nature had to be longer to ensure the necessary detail was included.

 

The recommendations were then proposed and seconded.

 

The Committee

 

RESOLVED

 

That the draft Street Trading and Markets policy be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 253.

254.

Work Programme 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 33 KB

The Committee is required to approve its Work Programme for the municipal year 2021/22.

Minutes:

The Group Head of Technical Services introduced the Work Programme, noted the amount coming to the next meeting and verbally updated the Committee on the addition of a Statement of Gambling Licensing Principles also coming to the next meeting. The Committee then noted the Work Programme.