northlincs.gov.uk

Licensing Committee – 23 November 2017

Chairman:  Councillor K Vickers
Venue:  Function Room 1, Civic Centre, Ashby Road, Scunthorpe
Time:  10 am
E-mail Address:  matthew.nundy@northlincs.gov.uk

AGENDA

1.       Substitutions.
2.       Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and personal or personal and prejudicial interests, and significant contact with applicants, objectors or third parties (lobbying), if any.
3.       To take the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 21 September 2017 as a correct record and authorise the Chairman to sign.
4.       Sub-Committee Proceedings – To receive and where necessary confirm the minutes of the meeting of the following sub-committees-
(i)      Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee held on 2 November 2017.
5.       Glossary of Terms (Licensing Policies)
6.       The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014.
7.       Appeals Submitted to the Magistrates Court.
8.       Any other items which the Chairman decides are urgent by reason of special circumstances which must be specified.

MINUTES

PRESENT: –  Councillor K Vickers in the chair.

Councillors P Vickers (Vice-Chairman), Ali, Armitage, Clark, Ellerby, Glover, Hannigan, Longcake, Ogg, Oldfield, Rowson, Swift, Wells and Wilson.

The committee met at the Civic Centre, Scunthorpe.

1476   DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS, PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AND SIGNIFICANT CONTACT WITH APPLICANTS, OBJECTORS OR THIRD PARTIES (LOBBYING) – The following members declared personal interests –

1477   MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the proceedings of thiscommittee held on 21 September 2017, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and signed by the chairman.

1478   SUB-COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS – Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings of the Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee held on 5 October and 2 November 2017 be received.

1479   (24)    GLOSSARY OF TERMS (LICENSING POLICIES) – The Director: Operations circulated a report that provided clarification to the Glossary of Terms included in a number of Licensing Policies published by the council.

The council had published a number of statutory and non-statutory policies.  Each of the policies included a table which detailed officer delegations.  This report does not seek to change these delegations.

The policies concerned were are as follows:

• Statement of Licensing Policy
• Statement of Principles
• Hackney Carriage And Private Hire Licensing Policy
• Street Trading, Activities and Collections Policy
• Sex Establishment Licensing Policy
• Scrap Metal Dealers Licensing Policy

In each of these policies, functions were delegated to officers who were named by their title.  Some job titles named in the policies had been changed more than once.  It was proposed that the delegation remain as it was and that the delegation wa clarified in the Glossary of Terms.  By doing this, there was no change to the delegation but it allowed for officer titles to change without impacting on the delegation and thus the ability to deliver the service.

The report highlighted the job titles mentioned in the delegation and showed the appropriate wording to be included in the Glossary of Terms.  This would ensure that even where job titles change, there was no question about the authorisation of the said officer to perform their duties.

Recommended to Council – That option 2 of the report be approved and applied to all licensing policies referred to in paragraph 2.2.

1480   (25)    THE OPENNESS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT BODIES REGULATIONS 2014 – The Director: Operations submitted a report that advised the committee of all decisions taken by authorised officers of the Licensing Division, in relation to licences, registrations, permits and consents, under the scheme of delegation.

In August 2014 the Government introduced regulations which required the publication of decisions by officers for non-executive functions where were for authorisation, a licence or where it affected the rights of an individual.

The adoption of the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations in August 2014 changed the requirements placed on local authorities in regard to reporting decisions taken under delegated authority by Officers.

Prior to the new regulations, Officers were required only to produce a report on decisions taken under authority delegated to them under the Authority’s Executive powers.

The requirement had now been extended to all decisions, whether made by an officer or on behalf of another committee/sub-committee or joint committee, in which the council participated.  This applied where the decision had been delegated to an officer, either under a specific delegation or under a general authorisation.

A summary of all decisions made by officers for licences, registrations, permits and consents issued between 30 August and 13 October 2017 was attached at Appendix 1 of the report.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

1481   APPEALS TO THE MAGISTRATES COURT – The Director: Governance and Partnerships informed the committee of an appeal lodged to the Magistrates Court as a result of a decision made by the Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee.