Agenda and draft minutes

SWT Licensing Committee
Monday, 20th December, 2021 6.15 pm

Venue: The John Meikle Room - The Deane House. View directions

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

Webcast: View the webcast

Items
No. Item

12.

Apologies

13.

Minutes of the previous meetings of the Licensing Committee pdf icon PDF 210 KB

14.

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.)

    Additional documents:

    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 S Coles

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Lees

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr M Lithgow

    All Items

    Wellington

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr J Lloyd

    All Items

    Wellington & Sampford Arundel

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr R Tully

    All Items

    West Monkton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr B Weston

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Whetlor

    All Items

    Watchet

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

     

15.

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.

     

    Temporary measures during the Coronavirus Pandemic

    Due to the temporary legislation (within the Coronavirus Act 2020, which allowed for use of virtual meetings) coming to an end on 6 May 2021, the council’s committee meetings will now take place in the office buildings within the John Meikle Meeting Room at the Deane House, Belvedere Road, Taunton. Unfortunately due to capacity requirements, the Chamber at West Somerset House is not able to be used at this current moment.  

     

    Following the Government guidance on measures to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19), the council meeting rooms will have very limited capacity.  With this in mind, we will only be allowing those members of the public who have registered to speak to attend the meetings in person in the office buildings, if they wish (we will still be offering to those members of the public that are not comfortable in attending, for their statements to be read out by a Governance and Democracy Case Manager).  Please can we urge all members of the public who are only interested in listening to the debate to view our live webcasts from the safety of their own home to help prevent the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19). 

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

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

16.

Licensing Update Report pdf icon PDF 234 KB

    This report gives officers the opportunity to update members of the committee on work of note, progress on any projects, changes in legislation and look ahead to any significant events that lie ahead.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    During the discussion, the following points were raised:-

    ·       Councillors requested clarification on the information given on Pavement Licenses in section 4.2 and 4.3 of the report.

    The Licensing Specialist gave clarification and explained that the Pavement Licence Scheme was a temporary scheme and if it wasn’t extended, the permissions would revert back to those issued under the Highways Act.

    ·       Councillors queried whether there would be a cost for those licenses issued under the Highways Act.

    The Licensing Specialist advised that there would be a cost, which would be calculated based on the amount of work involved in issuing the license.

    ·       Councillors were surprised that there had been no changes made to the taxi fare limit since 2010.

    ·       Councillors acknowledged that the proposed increase in the taxi fares had been requested by a taxi firm and that it had not been instigated by council officers.

    ·       Councillors queried how often could the fares be revised.

    The Licensing Specialist advised that they could be changed at any time and that there were no set time frames for any revisions.

    ·       Councillors highlighted that although the taxi fares were being increased, that the figures being set, were the maximum a taxi driver could change and that they could charge less than those figures if they so wished.

     

    Resolved that the Licensing Committee noted the Update Report.