Venue: Exe Room, Phoenix House
Contact: Sarah Lees Member Services Officer
Link: audio recording
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ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN (THE VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL, CLLR T G HUGHES, IN THE CHAIR) To elect a Chairman of the Licensing Committee for the Municipal Year 2016/17. Minutes: RESOLVED that Cllr Coren be elected Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2016/17. |
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ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRMAN To elect a Vice Chairman of the Licensing Committee for the Municipal Year 2016/17. Minutes: RESOLVED that Cllr Mrs J Doe be elected Vice Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2016/17. |
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APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of Substitute Members (if any). Minutes: Apologies had been received from the following Members:
Cllr Mrs E M Andrews Cllr K I Busch Cllr R J Chesterton Cllr P H D Hare-Scott Cllr D J Knowles
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PUBLIC QUESTION TIME To receive any questions relating to items on the agenda from members of the public and replies thereto. Minutes: There were no members of the public present. |
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To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2016 (copy attached). Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2015 were confirmed as a true and accurate record and SIGNED by the Chairman. |
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ENFORCEMENT UPDATE (00:10:40) To receive a verbal update regarding any recent enforcement action. Minutes: The Lead Licensing Officer informed the Committee that there had been a move away from pre-programmed licensing inspection regime in the past. A new full time Licensing Officer was now in post overcoming previous capacity issues. This would allow a system to be put in place to risk rate licensed premises. Premises would be categorised into high, medium and low risk and an programme of inspections would be drawn up. It was confirmed that these inspections would take place on an unannounced basis and would be appropriately timed. This would hopefully lead to a situation where the Licensing Department was able to be more proactive in identifying problems before they occurred. |
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PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES ENFORCEMENT POLICY (00:13:38) PDF 238 KB To receive a report from the Public Health and Professional Service Manager presenting the new Public Health Services Enforcement Policy which encompasses the Licensing regulatory functions carried out by the Council. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee had before it, and NOTED, a report * from the Public Health and Professional Services Manager presenting the new Public Health Services Enforcement Policy. The Lead Licensing Officer explained that Public Health covered service areas such as Licensing, Environmental Health and Private Sector Housing, each area having its own particular set of responsibilities but also working together to promote health and safety in Mid Devon. Licensing particularly worked closely with other service areas, for example, in regulating caravan sites, investigating noise complaints from festivals, riding establishments and also tatooists where joint inspections were carried out. It was therefore very important to have one central overarching enforcement policy. This set out the overriding principles which would act as an invaluable reference guide for officers and the Licensing and Regulatory Committees. In addition, those affected by the policy would be able to read the document and know what was expected from them and the Council. It was confirmed that the document reflected best practice and national guidance and would ensure that enforcement action was transparent, proportionate, consistent and appropriate.
It was explained that since the policy covered such a large number of service areas which chiefly fell under the umbrella of Community Well Being, the policy had been presented to a joint meeting of the Community Well Being and Decent and Affordable Homes Policy Development Groups in the previous week. They had recommended that the policy be recommended to the Cabinet and that they then make recommendation to Council that the new policy be adopted. They had also made an additional recommendation that the policy be reviewed every two years rather than every three so that the membership of this administration would have sight of it again before the next District Council election. The Policy Development Groups had considered that this was important given the pace of legislative change in the public health area. One other slight amendment was required in Appendix 1 (licensing) in that the licensing and regulatory committee now has 12 Members and not 15.
In order to avoid different recommendations going to Council regarding the same policy the Licensing Committee was merely required to note the policy and to be mindful of its contents when considering licensing issues in the future.
Note: * Report previously circulated; copy attached to the signed minutes. |