Agenda and draft minutes

Members and officers must declare any disclosable pecuniary interests in relation to any business on the agenda.  Declarations should also be made at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting.

If in doubt contact the Legal or Democratic Services representative for this meeting.

There were no substitute members.

There were no declarations of interest.

So as to provide the best opportunity for the Committee to provide the public with the fullest answer, questions from the public should be submitted by midday on Wednesday 8 January 2025.

Where relevant notice of a question has not been given, the person presiding may either choose to give a response at the meeting or respond by undertaking to provide a written response within three working days.

Questions should be submitted to Democratic Services - democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note: Public Question Time will last for a maximum of 30 minutes)

There were no questions from the public.

Pre-submitted Members questions are pursuant to rule 12 of the Council & Committee Procedure Rules.

Questions should be submitted by midday on Wednesday 8 January 2025 to  Democratic Services, democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note: Member Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

There were no questions from Members.

To approve the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 11 November 2024, which have been emailed to Members.

Resolved: that the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 11 November 2024 be approved as the correct record.

To consider any items the Chairman of the meeting considers to be urgent

There were no urgent items.

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability & Resources, attached as item 6.

The Licensing Officer presented the report explaining that increases proposed were in line with corporate inflation, the Council were responsible for issuing a range of licences and the charges were required to cover the cost of producing the licences but should not result in a profit.

The Officer drew Members attention to the part of the report that showed that Private Hire and Hackney charges were currently operating on a deficit but explained that this deficit was gradually being recouped.

When last year's Fees and Charges report was presented, the committee inquired if it would be possible to incentify the trade to use electric vehicles. The Officer clarified that it would be problematic to attempt this because an electric vehicle licence and a conventional vehicle licence cost the same to produce. As an alternative incentive the Officer explained that they were currently investigating if they may be able to allow electric vehicles to be licensed for 15 years as opposed to the 10 years allowed for conventional vehicles.

Questions from members

In response to questions from Members the Officer explained that the department recharges figure for 2023/24 was so much lower than previous years because there had been a staff vacancy within the department for a period of time.

The Officer also confirmed that although the licence fees for vehicles suitable for disabled passengers were the same as for other vehicles, all new hackney vehicles must be suitable for disabled passengers.

Members proposed that the Officers recommendations be accepted. This was seconded and voted in favour of unanimously.

Decision - Recommendations accepted.

·         Councillors considered the fees set out in Appendix 1 of the report to apply from 1st April 2025.

·         Councillors approved  the scale of fees proposed within Appendix 1 to apply from 1st April 2025 and referred these to Full Council for ratification.

·         Councillors noted that should representations be received following the Council placing a notice in a local newspaper setting out the changes to the street trading, vehicle and operator fees and inviting representations on those changes within 28 days then these will be considered by the Public Health and Regulation Manager in consultation with the Chair of the Licensing Committee.

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability & Resources, attached as item 7.

The Licensing Officer presented explaining to Members that the report before them had already been formally agreed by this committee. As a result of a public engagement requested by WBC licensing committee, it had been brought back to this committee so that Members had the opportunity to look at that engagement and see if they considered that the policy should be changed in any way.

Questions from Members

In response to Members questions the Officer confirmed that any enforcement required regarding these licences would be the responsibility of Adur District Council. He explained that on application the licensee would be required to supply information and pictures of the area they would be using. On inspection, if this was not adhered to, enforcement action would be taken. He also clarified that, if furniture was confiscated, the licensee would be responsible for the cost of its storage.

The Officer reiterated that pavement licences had always been charged by West Sussex County Council until four years ago, when they were waived to help businesses during Covid. Within the survey some businesses had stated that they had never paid for a licence in the past and the Officer advised that this may have been possible in some cases as West Sussex County Council may not have executed diligent enforcement.

Debate

During debate Members concurred that it may be favourable to publicise to the public that pavement licences had always been charged by West Sussex County Council and that this wasn’t a new initiative introduced by Adur District Council.

Decision

The Chair read the following recommendation - That the Committee consider whether any changes be made to the approved Pavement Licensing Policy following the engagement process.

The Committee resolved that no changes need to be made to the policy.