Agenda and draft minutes

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2024.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2024 were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chair as correct.

Councillors are reminded of the need to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests that relate to business on the agenda and which have not already been included in the register of interests, before any discussion takes place on the item. Unless the interest is sensitive, you must also disclose the nature of the interest. In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, you must then leave the room and must not participate in any further discussion of the item.  Councillors requiring clarification should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer prior to the day of the meeting.

The following Member declared a personal interest as indicated:

Councillor Hussain then left the meeting.

To consider the report of the Interim Joint Director - Environment, Waste and Operations.

The Head of Environment and Waste stated that there were a number of fees and charges which were statutory therefore could not be changed.

The Principal Licensing Officer presented the report drawing attention to the following points:

·         the recommendation was as set out in the report;

·         Appendix A set out the legal powers to set fees and charges;

·         setting fees and charges was important to negate the risk of falling short on budget;

·         Appendix B set out the fees and charges;

·         there was a corporate request to increase by 3% this year; and 

·         some increased slightly more or less depending on the budget line.

The Head of Environment and Waste answered Members’ questions making the following points:

·         legislation set upper and lower limits for gambling fees and charges and the Council reached the upper limit some years ago;

·         where fees and charges could be changed they had been;

·         licensing fees covered costs but additional funding would allow staff increase meaning more compliance checks could be undertaken;

·         successive governments had not reviewed fees for a number of service areas for which the public sector held responsibility;

·         HMO licensing was not a function of the Licensing team or Committee; 

·         a larger increase would have limited impact on budget due to numbers of licenses in some areas; and

·         that the working group were looking at changes in policy that may have an impact on cost.

RESOLVED unanimously that the Licensing Committee recommends the following:

For the period from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 the fees shall be as set out in Appendix B.