Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to provide the Licensing Committee with the current drafts of the two licensing policies with a view to finalising them, so that they can be presented to full council for adoption at its next meeting.

During the discussion, the following points were made:-

·         Councillors requested clarification on whether the policies were the new documents for Somerset West and Taunton.

The Licensing Specialist confirmed that yes they were the new documents that had been aligned from the previous Taunton Deane and West Somerset policies.

·         Concern was raised that the Unparished area of Taunton had not been included in the consultation and requested they be listed for future work.

Yes they would be added to the list of consultees for future use.

·         Councillors queried who set the Sunday Trading Rules on the sale of alcohol for shops and supermarkets.

The Licensing Specialist advised that was set by Central Government and there was separate Act that gave guidance on Sunday trading.

·         Concern was raised on the reactive nature of enforcement matters for Licensing.

The Licensing Specialist advised that there had been changes in the ways of working as a result of staffing levels and wanted to be transparent about how enforcement work was carried out.

·         Councillors stressed the need for the community to know how enforcement work was carried out so that they could assist in notifying the Council of any breaches.

The Licensing Specialist agreed and advised that licences could be suspended due to any non-payment of licensing invoices, as the Finance Department kept them notified of payments received, follow up work would then be carried out on the relevant premises and applicant.

·         Councillors queried whether the officers were confident that all CCTV cameras had the appropriate signage on them.

The Licensing Specialist advised there was still work to be done on signage but that it related to CCTV owned by the Council.  A review had been carried out which highlighted the work to be done.

Resolved that the Licensing Committee approved the two draft policies (subject to any minor amendments, if appropriate) attached at appendices 4 and 6, in readiness for the Full Council meeting in March 2020.