Agenda, decisions and minutes

RESOLVED    that Councillor RE Barrett be elected Chairman of the Committee for the coming year.

RESOLVED    that Councillor RE Barrett be elected Chairman of the Committee for the coming year.

RESOLVED    that Councillor J Shepperson be appointed Vice-Chairman for the coming year. 

RESOLVED    that Councillor J Shepperson be appointed Vice-Chairman for the coming year. 

(as presented to Council on 5th December 2002) 

The Chairman was authorised to sign as a correct record, the Minutes of the meeting held on 29th October 2002. 

Councillor DL Porter informed Members that he acted as agent for groups and bands and when a conflict of interest arose he would declare an interest. 

For decision. 

RESOLVED    that the following streets in Papworth Everard be designated Consent Streets under the terms of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 and the resolution to take effect from 22nd August 2003.

The Committee, having noted that no objections had been received in respect of a Notice of Intention to designate the streets in Papworth Everard as Consent Streets and that there was at least one existing trader that was aware of the requirement for future consent,

RESOLVED    that the following streets in Papworth Everard be designated Consent Streets under the terms of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 and the resolution to take effect from 22nd August 2003.

For information. 

The Licensing Officer informed Members that the Licensing Bill had received Royal Assent on 10th July 2003 and would be implemented on 10th July 2004. The Act was of considerable length and late changes had occurred to the Bill. Much of the detail would be described in Regulations to be made under the Act and once these were known, training for Members would be organised.

During the ensuing discussion, Members raised a number of issues as follows:

(a)               What was the framework for the Council to implement the Act?

(b)               The residents to be made aware that this was Government led

(c)               The Police input would be important with a written confidential report related to each application, including any criminal record

(d)               Could an application be made by a bankrupt?

(e)               A leaflet distributed to all village hall committees/Parish Councils, explaining the procedure was requested

(f)                 Would there be adequate time for the comments of the Fire Officer to be taken into consideration?

(g)               Would delegated powers be changed?

(h)               Would dates for meetings of the panel be programmed?

In response, Members were informed:

(a)               Overall the Committee would remain a quasi-judicial board, however as the Policy developed the residents of South Cambs would need to be consulted (guidance from the Government would be given on this). The Licensing Officer would liaise with the Legal Adviser in the ensuing months and would report back to Members. Cabinet would be deciding the final process.

(b)               The Government were advising on policy and guidelines with a duty on Councils to inform the public.

(c)               Consultation with the Police would continue, however there would be a considerable number of applications and manpower may not be available to provide a written report on each. The Criminals Record Bureau based in Liverpool provided information related to all criminal records in the country.

(d)               The legislation was unclear at present; the Licensing Officer would clarify and report further to Members.

(e)               A leaflet would be considered as a way of promotion, together with other forms of publicity. A budget had been allocated for this purpose.

(f)                 The situation was unlikely to change, with the exception of short-term licences. The Act did not however, take account of weekends, and an application may be made on a Friday for a Monday event.

(g)               It was unlikely, however the Constitution would be reviewed to take into account any change

(h)               Meetings would commence on a programmed basis once the date has been given for receipt of applications.

The Fire Officer expressed his concern that existing fire department resources would not cover the inspection of all premises. In response, the Licensing Officer explained that he had understood that existing premises with licenses would not require a fire inspection, however he would confirm and subsequently inform the Fire Officer and Members.

It was as yet unclear what volume of work would be generated by the introduction of the new legislation and the input required into the IT system. Once that had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Councillor Summerfield raised the issue of the number of outstanding licences to be issued, particularly in respect of his local community centre. Councillor J Shepperson also expressed his concern regarding the backlog of applications. In response, Members were given apologies for the delay in issuing licences, due to staff shortage and illness and subsequently informed that 78 licences had recently been issued and outstanding lapsed licences were in the process of investigation by the Licensing Officer. 

Councillor RM Matthews requested that future meetings of the Committee be held in the afternoon. Following a lengthy discussion, the majority of Members favoured maintaining the status quo.