northlincs.gov.uk

Chair:  Councillor K Vickers
Venue:  Function Room 1, Civic Centre, Ashby Road, Scunthorpe
Time:  10 am

AGENDA
1.  Substitutions.

2.  Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Personal or Personal and Prejudicial Interests or Significant Contact with Applicants, Objectors or Third Parties (lobbying) if any.

3.  To take the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 31 January 2013 as a correct record and authorise the Chairman to sign.

4.  Sub-Committee Proceedings – To receive and where necessary confirm the minutes of the meetings of the following sub-committees –

(i)  Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee held on 7 March 2013.

(ii)  Licensing (Activities) Sub-Committee held on 30 January 2013.

5.  Tacit Authorisations – The Provision of Services Regulations 2009 – Report by the Director of Places.

6.  Any other items which the Chairman decides are urgent by reason of special circumstances which must be specified.

Note:  Reports are by Director of Places unless otherwise stated.

MINUTES

PRESENT:  Councillor K Vickers in the chair.

Councillors P Vickers (vice-chairman), Allcock, Armitage, Bainbridge,  Carlile, Clark, Eckhardt, Ellerby, L Foster, T Foster, Glover, Oldfield, Wells and Whiteley.

The committee met at the Civic Centre, Scunthorpe.

1079  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 a personal interest –

1080  MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the proceedings of this committee held on 31 January 2013 having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and signed by the chairman.

1081  SUB-COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS – Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee held on 7 March 2013 be received.

1082  SUB-COMMITTEE PROCEEDINGS – Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing (Activities) Sub-Committee held on 30 January 2013 be received.

1083  (37) TACIT AUTHORISATIONS – THE PROVISION OF SERVICE REGULATIONS 2009 – The Director of Places submitted a report requesting the committee to determine the tacit authorisation periods for all applications where no statutory time limits were determined in accordance with the Provisions of Service Regulations 2009, and to delegate to the Director of Places the authority to extend the authorisations/tacit period in accordance with paragraph 9 of the above regulations for sex establishments and street trading licences where such an extension could be justified, and also for some applications (where applicable) as listed in appendix A of the report.

The report explained that in accordance with paragraph 19 of the Provisions of Service Regulations 2009 the council was required to determine the time needed to determine each application, or tacit authorisation period. This requirement was required for all activities where a person needed to obtain an authorisation or notify a competent authority in order to deliver their business or function, with the exception of applications for Gambling and Transportation, ie. Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licences.  The statutory definition was contained within paragraph 4 of the above regulations.

The types of authorisation covered by this regulation included all activities delivered under the delegation of the Licensing Committee.  A list of these activities was included in Appendix A. In determining the authorisation period, the committee would need to consider if an inspection was needed, together with any consultation period, and also allow for the preparation of licences. In addition, some applications needed to be referred to the Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee before being determined. Once set, it would be necessary to review the tacit/ authorisation periods to determine if they were set to an appropriate period of time.  Should any changes be needed, then a further report would be presented to the Licensing Committee.

The Director in his report stated that as the time limit to determine authorisation would be set and could only be extended once, it may be necessary to change the way in which Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committees were arranged for certain activities, such as street trading licences and sex establishment licences, with other activities with a tacit/authorisation period being determined by the Director ofPlaces.  If all hearings (meetings of the sub-committee) were arranged in advance then the authorisation period may have to be extended to meet the hearing, thus if the applicant fails to attend, the application would have to be heard or it would be deemed granted.  Therefore, it was proposed that the Director of Places request special meetings of the Licensing (Miscellaneous) Sub-Committee be arranged as and when required for Street Trading Licence and Sex Establishment licence applications,and to delegate to him the determination of other applications listed in Appendix A, where a tacit/authorisation period was required and had been set. (Gambling and Transportation, ie. Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licences would continue to be considered in the usual way by the sub-committee). This proposal was set out as option one at paragraph 3 of the report.

Recommended to Council – (a) That the authorisation periods listed in appendix A of the report be approved; (b) that the above proposal set out as option 1 of the report be approved so amending the delegation to officers for the determination of those applications (where applicable) listed in appendix A, and (c) that associated relevant licensing policies be amended to reflect the revised delegation.