Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber Arun Civic Centre Maltravers Road Littlehampton

Contact: Carley Lavender 

Items
No. Item

66.

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.

67.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 282 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 March 2022 and to note the Minutes from the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 7 March 2022.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 11 March 2022 were approved by the Committee and signed by the Chair. The Minutes of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 7 March 2022 were also noted by the Committee.

68.

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.

69.

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.

70.

Start Times

The Committee is asked to confirm its start times for meetings during 2022/23.

Minutes:

It was proposed and seconded that the start time for the remaining meetings of Licensing Committee for 2022/23 be 9.30am.

 

The Committee

 

RESOLVED

 

That the start time of all remaining meetings of the Committee for 2022/23 would be 9.30am.

71.

Mobile Homes Site Licensing Determination Policy pdf icon PDF 125 KB

Local Authorities must have procedures in place to deal with applications for site licences for relevant protected sites.

 

Arun District Council’s Mobile Homes (site Licensing applications) Determinations Policy sets out these arrangements and was adopted by Full Council in March 2017.

 

A review of the Policy has been carried and only minor amendments are deemed necessary.

 

The revised Policy is provided in Appendix 1 and is recommend for adoption.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

[Councillor Oliver-Redgate arrived during this item.]

 

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Environmental Health Team Manager presented the report which recommended adoption of a revised Mobile Homes (Site Licensing Applications) Determinations Policy, which set out the arrangements in place to deal with applications for site licences for relevant protected sites, following a review. He advised that if adopted by Committee, the Policy would take immediate effect.

 

Members then took part in a full debate on the item where a number of points were raised. Clarity was sought over ‘protected residential sites’ under 4.8.12 of the policy [on page 23 of the Agenda Pack] and whether there should be a comment inserted into the policy about the need to not create homelessness. The Environmental Health Team Manager clarified that the policy was how the Council would make determinations on licensing applications and that it did not deal with the homelessness that might be created as a result of site loss. Also raised were concerns over locked gates and emergency services vehicular access within Appendix C of the policy [on page 25 of the Agenda Pack]. The Environmental Health Team Manager confirmed that any new applications would involve appropriate consultation with the relevant emergency services and that he was not aware of any existing sites with locked gates but that he would explore the situation further.

 

The Chair and Vice-Chair thanked the Officers involved in what they recognised was an ongoing process. The recommendations were then proposed and seconded.

 

The Committee

 

RESOLVED – That

 

1.    The Mobile Homes (Site Licensing Applications) Determination Policy be adopted;

 

2.    Authority be delegated to the Group Head of Technical Services to make minor amendments to the Policy.

72.

Review of Mobile Homes Licensing Fees Policy pdf icon PDF 129 KB

Local Authorities have been permitted to charge fees to reclaim the costs of administering and monitoring site licences for relevant protected sites since 2015.

 

Arun District Council’s Mobile Homes Licensing Fees Policy sets out the fee arrangements. The fees policy was first published in 2015 and last reviewed and revised in 2016.

 

This report details the findings of a review of the Policy and presents a revised Policy for adoption.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Environmental Health Team Manager presented the report which recommended adoption of a revised Mobile Homes Licensing Fees Policy, which set out the fee arrangements Arun charged to reclaim the costs of administering and monitoring site licences for relevant protected sites since 2015. The fees policy was first published in 2015 and last reviewed and revised in 2016. He highlighted that changes had mainly been made to fee calculations and in particular the annual fee owing to the implementation of a risk-based inspection frequency approach and a resultant reduction in costs. He advised that if adopted by Committee, the Policy would take immediate effect.

 

Members then took part in a full debate on the item where a number of points were raised including the percentage increase on fees payable in the revised policy and clarification that fees were set on a cost recovery basis. The Environmental Health Team Manager confirmed that the fees were set on a  cost recovery basis and illustrated the changes in fees with the examples of new Band A 2-5 licences which would increase from £539 to £554 and the annual fee for the same band which would decrease from £414 to £310.

 

The recommendations were then proposed and seconded.

 

The Committee

 

RESOLVED – That

 

1.    The Mobile Homes Licensing Fees Policy be adopted

 

2.    Authority be delegated to the Group Head of Technical Services in conjunction with the Section 151 Officer to make minor amendments to the Policy.

73.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 91 KB

The Committee is requested to note its Work Programme for 2022/23.

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Work Programme.