Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jamil, Patterson and Tompsett.

To receive any declarations of interest by members in items on the agenda.  For any advice on declarations of interest, please contact the Monitoring Officer.

No declarations of interest were made.

Members should indicate which item(s) they wish to speak on and the nature of their concern/question/request for clarification.

No visiting members were present or had registered to speak.

Mr Stevenson had submitted a report recommending to the Portfolio Holder for Sustainability that approval be given for the London Borough of Bexley’s (LBB) Licensing Team functions to join the Licensing Partnership as a fourth and equal partner.

Mrs Perry opened proceedings by informing the Committee that the Licensing Partnership was now in its seventh year of successful operation and that following an approach by LBB it aimed to further reduce operating costs by extending the partnership to include them as an additional partner. She made clear that if LBB were to join, the Licensing Partnership would not include taxi licensing for LBB as this function was performed by Transport for London. She said that the current Administration Team staffing structure would continue, aided by the retention of a temporary administration officer based at Sevenoaks who would become permanent plus one member of staff to be located at LBB. She informed the committee that going forward LBB would effectively have the equivalent of two Licensing Officers, as had the existing Partnership members. The existing Licensing Partnership Manager would manage all four teams. She stressed that the existing performance indicator targets would remain in place as the Licensing Partnership was committed to maintaining an excellent level of service. Benefits of the extended partnership would include additional resilience and the sharing of officer skills and best practices.

No public speakers were present at the meeting. However, a representation had been received from Miss Toni Conlon, acting on behalf of the Tunbridge Wells Hackney Drivers Association (TWHDA).  Following officer advice and at the discretion of the Chairman, Miss Conlon’s statement was tabled at the meeting.  In summary, TWHDA had questioned whether an entire licensing department (excluding taxi and private hire licensing) could be absorbed into the existing administration operation with the addition of only one temporary full time administration employee. They had also suggested that if it was the case that the existing administration operation had been overstaffed that a refund should be due to the TWHDA. They also suggested that if there was no overstaffing that service levels would therefore suffer as a result of the increased workload and the local authority’s cost cutting measures should not be at the expense of service levels funded by the user.

Councillor Backhouse informed the Committee that he supported the proposal and believed that the addition of the LBB would bring much expertise of premises licensing into the Licensing Partnership.

Councillor Woodward asked how confusion would be avoided between the respective authorities’ differing policies. Mrs Perry, responded by explaining that there were only very subtle differences in licensing policy other than for taxis, which was where most differences lay. Consequently, she anticipated few problems. In answer to a further question by Councillor Woodward, Mr Stevenson advised that each authority would be individually responsible for their own legal support costs. Councillor Woodward also asked if each authority charged the same amount for the services provided. Mrs Perry answered by explaining that most fees for licensing functions  ...  view the full minutes text for item LC79/15

To consider any other items which the Chairman decides are urgent, for the reasons to be stated, in accordance with Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no items of urgent business.

RESOLVED: That the next Licensing Committee take place on Tuesday, 5 July 2016.