Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairman for the municipal year.

Cllr J Cairney was elected Chairman of the Licensing Committee for the municipal year 2021-2022

To elect a Vice Chairman for the municipal year

Cllr Mrs E Slade was elected Vice Chairman of the Licensing Committee for the municipal year 2021-2022

Members to note the Hybrid Meetings Protocol

The Committee had before it, and NOTED, the *Hybrid meeting protocol.

Note: *Protocol previously circulated and attached to the minutes.

To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of Substitute Members (if any).

Apologies were received from Cllrs R J Chesterton, D R Coren, S J Penny and L D Taylor who was substituted by Cllr L J Cruwys

Councillors are reminded of the requirement to declare any interest, including the type of interest, and reason for that interest, either at this stage of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of that interest.

Cllr J Cairney declared a personal interest as he was a current licence holder.

To receive any questions relating to items on the agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.

There were no members of the public present

Members to consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 15^th October 2020

The Minutes of the meeting held on 15^th October 2020 were approved as a true record subject to the removal of the following bullet point:

·         Enforcement of parking on pavements was a function of Devon County Council

And were duly SIGNED by the Chairman

To receive a verbal update from the Specialist Lead Licensing Officer.

The Specialist Lead Licensing Officer provided a verbal update on the Licensing Service which included:

• Summary of the different responsibilities of the Licensing and Regulatory Committees
• Impact of COVID on licensing work – particularly licensing act inspections
• COVID enforcement
• A total of 4 hearings had been held for Premises Licence applications in just over the last year
• Gambling Act - the Council was required to have a Statement of Principles under the Act and this had to be reviewed every 3 years. The new Statement of Principles would take effect from 31 January 2022 and the Council would be consulting on this soon
• COVID had reduced the number of applications / notices received by the Licensing Team during 2020
• The Business and Planning Act 2020 – Mid Devon District Council would be responsible for issuing pavement licences for an additional year (until September 2022)