Meeting documentation

Meeting documents

Licensing Committee
Wednesday, 11th September, 2013 6.30 pm

ItemDescriptionResolution
Declaration of interests - members are reminded that following the adoption by Council of the new Code of Conduct, any declaration of interest should be made having regard to the new code. In particular, members must make clear the nature of the interest and whether it is 'personal' or 'prejudicial'.

The Monitoring Officer would like to remind members that when they are considering whether the following items are exempt information under the relevant paragraph under part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 they must have regard to the public interest test. This means that members must consider, for each item, whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure outweighs the public interest in making the item available to the public.
34 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors G Allman, P Hyde and G Jones.
 
35 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
There were no declarations of interest.
 
36 MINUTES
Minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday, 20th March, 2013
Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 20 March 2013.

It was moved by Councillor J Geary and seconded by Councillor R Adams.
RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 March 2013 be approved and signed by the Chairman.
37 REVIEW OF STATEMENT OF LICENSING POLICY
The Environmental Health Team Manager presented the report to Members.


The recommendations were moved by Councillor T Neilson and seconded by Councillor J G Coxon.
RESOLVED THAT:

a) The progress of the Draft Statement of Licensing Policy be noted.

b) The timeline of the Draft Statement of Licensing Policy be approved.

Before the Chairman moved onto the next item on the agenda, Councillor A V Smith, as portfolio holder, was invited to address the Committee.

Councillor A V Smith reminded Members of the invitation to view the night time economy of Ashby de la Zouch with the Police which had been offered to the Committee. The visits were on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 September between 10pm and 1am. She urged Members to attend as it was very important to witness the town in the evening in relation to the Statement of Licensing Policy which would be considered by the Committee in November.
38 REVIEW OF STREET TRADING POLICY
The Environmental Health Team Manager presented the report to Members.

In response to a question from the Chairman, the Environmental Health Team Manager assured Members that there was no intention to water down the street trading around schools. The Legal Advisor explained that it was the intention of the policy to give the Authority more control because instead of the specific street trading zones, out of which people could still trade unlicensed, the policy would include the entire district.

Councillor M B Wyatt explained that he was pleased with the policy as there had been issues in his ward with street traders.

Councillor J Geary stated that the policy was introduced partly due to food vendors trading around schools. He referred Members to the report in which it stated that the policy was to provide diversity and consumer choice but by not allowing people to trade around schools the authority was stopping the children from having a choice. The Environmental Health Team Manager explained that one of the aims of the policy was to improve public health and if an application was made under the new policy with that in mind it would be approved. Councillor M B Wyatt explained that from his experience it was not the kind of food that was sold that was an issue but the associated behaviour of the school children, for example litter and noise.

In response to a question from Councillor J Geary, the Environmental Health Team Manager explained that the policy would be enforced in the usual way of receiving warnings and then being taking Court proceedings.

The recommendations were moved by Councillor R Adams and seconded by Councillor D Everitt.
RESOLVED THAT:

a) The progress of the Draft Street Trading Policy be noted.

b) The timeline for the implementation of the final Street Trading Policy be approved.
Published on Wednesday, 18th September, 2013
The meeting commenced at 6.30pm and closed at 7.03pm.

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillor N Smith (Chairman)

Councillors R Adams, A Bridges, J Cotterill, J G Coxon, D Everitt, J Geary, C Large, L Massey, T Neilson, V Richichi, J Ruff, M Specht and M B Wyatt.

In attendance: Councillor J Bridges and Councillor A V Smith (MBE)

Officers: Mr D Gill, Mr L Mansfield and Mrs R Wallace.