Agenda and draft minutes

An Apology for Absence had been received from Councillor McAuliffe.

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

There were no Declarations of Interest made.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on  23 February 2024 (attached) and to note the minutes from the meetings of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 23 May, 25 June and 19 August 2024, which are also attached.

The Minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee held on 23 February 2024 were approved by the Committee as a correct record and were then signed by the Chair.

The Committee also noted the Minutes of the Licensing Sub-Committee meetings held on 23 May, 25 June and 19 August 2024.

The Chair confirmed that there were no urgent items for this meeting to consider.

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

            The Chair confirmed that no questions had been submitted to this meeting.

The Committee is asked to approve its start times for meetings during 2024/25.

The Committee

RESOLVED

That the start time of all remaining meetings of the Committee for 2024/25 would be 10.00 am.

To provide a revised Pavement Licensing Policy and amended fees for consideration and adoption.

The Environmental Health Team Manager presented the report providing the detail of a revised Pavement Licensing Policy and amended fees which the Committee was being asked to consider and adopt following recent amendments made to the regulations on 31 March 2024 through the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act 2023.

The background detailing the changes introduced were explained. These covered the period that a pavement licence could be held and the revised fee structure that could be charged. This confirmed that the local authority could now set its fees up to the maximum level to ensure cost recovery was in line with the Council’s approved financial strategy.  The amendments introduced powers enabling the Council to take enforcement action dealing with tables and chairs placed on the pavement without a licence where one was required. Previously, action could only be taken by the Highways Authority [West Sussex County Council] but this authority had now transferred to Arun with the Council being able to recover the costs of doing so.

The changes in legislation also extended the consultation period and established the maximum period [from 7 to 14 days] for the period of consultation and the time the Council had to determine an application following consultation, allowing the Council more time to decide whether to issue a licence.

The Pavement Licensing Policy had first been adopted by the Council in 2020 following its introduction to support business recovery following Covid 19. At that time whilst the maximum fee that could legally be charged had been £100, the Council had opted not to introduce this charge. That decision had been revised in 2021 to a charge of £100. Having undertaken analysis of the time taken to administer pavement licence applications, it was proposed that the council introduce and adopt a new fee structure. The new fee structure did show an increase in fees but this was still below the statutory maximum levels, as shown in detail in the report. An Equality Impact Assessment had also been undertaken and provided with the report.

The recommendations were then proposed by Councillor Blanchard-Cooper and seconded by Councillor Haywood.

Following a series of questions asked about the fee structure and the cost to the council in administering applications, reassurance was provided explaining that members of the public; relevant ward councillors and Town and Parish Councils could make representations which had to be considered during the public consultation period and would be considered in determining any application.  The Policy confirmed that licence fees would also be reviewed annually.

Following further discussion,

The Committee

RESOLVED – That

1.    The revised Policy be adopted;

2.    Delegated authority be given to the Group Head of Technical Services to make minor changes to the Policy;

3.    The revised pavement licence fees be adopted; and

4.    Delegated authority be given to the Group Head of Technical Services to make amendments to the adopted pavement licensing fees as required and within the legal maximum.

This report is to update the Committee on the Q1 Performance Outturn for the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which make up the Corporate Plan, for the period 1 April 2024 to 30 June 2024.

In the absence of the Group Head of Organisational Excellence, the Environmental Health Team Manager presented the report which sought to update the Committee on the Quarter 1 performance for the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) covering the period 1 April to 30 June 2024.

There was one KPI that was relevant to this Committee which was CP14 [% of licence applications determined within the various statutory of service time limits] and it was reported that this target was being achieved. The target set was 90% with the outturn for Q1 being 93%. Members’ attention was drawn to the commentary provided which confirmed that due to continued vacancies and sickness absence, although the target had been achieved, there was an impact on other licensing work and policy reviews, resulting in the need to defer some items scheduled for reporting into the next meeting of the Committee in December being deferred until February 2025. 

The Committee then noted the report.

The Committee’s work programme for 2024/25 is attached for noting.

In receiving and noting is Work Programme, the Committee was advised that the item CCTV in taxis would be deferred for consideration from 13 December meeting to the 28 February 2025 to allow further consultation to be undertaken.