Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - West Somerset House. View directions

Contact: Clare Rendell Email: c.rendell@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

14.

Apologies

15.

Minutes of the previous meeting of the Licensing Committee pdf icon PDF 237 KB

    To approve the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee.

    Minutes:

    (Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 16 September 2019 circulated with the agenda)

     

    The Licensing Specialist gave the Committee an update from the previous meeting on the current position with the statement made by a member of the public and that he had sought legal advice and was waiting for a written answer from him to send.  Councillors requested that the response was distributed to the Committee for information and training purposes.

     

    Resolved that the minutes of the Licensing Committee held on 16 September 2019 be confirmed as a correct record.

16.

Declarations of Interest

    To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

     

    (The personal interests of Councillors and Clerks of Somerset County Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.)

    Minutes:

    Members present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor or Clerk of a County, Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-

     

    Name

    Minute No.

    Description of Interest

    Reason

    Action Taken

    Cllr M Barr

    All Items

    Wellington

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr P Bolton

    All Items

    Minehead

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr C Booth

    All Items

    Wellington and Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke

    Cllr S Coles

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr C Ellis

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Lisgo

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr M Lithgow

    All Items

    Wellington

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr V Stock-Williams

    All Items

    Wellington

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr R Tully

    All Items

    West Monkton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

     

17.

Public Participation

    The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

     

    For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

    Minutes:

    No members of the public had requested to speak on any item on the agenda.

18.

Licensing Quarterly Update Report pdf icon PDF 347 KB

    This report provides an update on the activities of the council’s licensing service, changes in licensing legislation and other licensing related matters.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    During the discussion, the following points were made:-

    ·         Councillors queried the flux in table 4.8 and what would ‘normal’ service levels look like.

    The Licensing Specialist advised that normal would be anywhere above the red line, luckily there had only been a minor flux but he wanted to aspire to be above the 95% line for service levels.

    ·         Councillors queried whether the flux had been caused by staffing levels.

    The Licensing Specialist confirmed that yes it had been due to staffing.

    ·         Councillors hoped that the staffing levels were back up to a full contingency and praised the team for the work they did.

    ·         Councillors queried what priority level work would be carried out next and what progress had been made on updating documents, such as accessibility to taxis.

    The Licensing Specialist had developed a work plan and designated access was on the list but due to the nature of the work, that item was categorised as green and low level.  There were other policies that needed work to be done first, those included harmonising the old Taunton Deane and West Somerset taxi policies and street trading policies.  He hoped that now the staffing levels were back to normal, there would be resilience to work on more strategic work.

    ·         Concern was raised that the staffing levels were still not stable and Councillors asked how they could ensure that staff were appointed to the Licensing Department as the Committee wanted to achieve more.

    The Licensing Specialist advised that he was due to meet with the Director for External Operations to discuss the work plan for the Licensing Department and statistics for the department and welcomed any feedback from the Committee and invited Councillors to join him at the meeting.

    ·         Councillors queried how the new disclosure barring system was chosen.

    The Licensing Specialist advised the Licensing Officer went through the procurement process set by the Council.

                                      

    Resolved that the Committee noted the report.

19.

Statements of licensing policy for the Licensing Act 2003 and Gambling Act 2005 Report pdf icon PDF 257 KB

20.

Access to Information - Exclusion of the Press and Public

    Minutes:

    Resolved that the press and the public be excluded from the meeting for the item numbered 7 on the Agenda as the items contained exempt information as defined in Paragraph 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and the public interest in withholding the information outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

21.

Complaint received by a member of the Licensing Committee