Issue - meetings

1.    That responsibility for granting, refusal and revocation  of licences, including the setting of conditions, be delegated to the Assistant Director – Corporate and Contracted Services and the Group Manager, Legal and Corporate Services

2.    That the fees will be set at the maximum permitted level  of £100 in order to recover as much of the cost of issuing licences as possible be approved.

3.    That the duration of licences will be to 30^th September 2021, unless revoked be approved.

Decision

1.    That responsibility for granting, refusal and revocation  of licences, including the setting of conditions, be delegated to the Assistant Director – Corporate and Contracted Services and the Group Manager, Legal and Corporate Services

2.    That the fees will be set at the maximum permitted level  of £100 in order to recover as much of the cost of issuing licences as possible be approved.

3.    That the duration of licences will be to 30^th September 2021, unless revoked be approved.

Corporate objectives

·         A clean, safe and enjoyable environment

·         Building strong and vibrant communities

·         Ensuring economic growth and prosperity

·         Delivering an efficient and modern council

Deputy Monitoring Officer Comments

The Business and Planning Bill 2020 introduces a new legal framework for issuing pavement licences by local authorities. The framework supersedes the existing framework for pavement licensing set out in the Highways Act 1980.

Deputy S151 Officer Comments

There are no direct financial consequences of this policy change.

Advice

Councillor Williams introduced the report to members. He said this was a new piece of legislation due to be made law in a few weeks and he welcomed the ability of premises to make use of outdoor space.

F Hussain added that the legislation was going through the House of Lords at the moment and some amendments have been proposed. If anything is fundamentally changed, the Licensing committee will be kept updated. This report is asking Cabinet to delegate decisions on licenses to the Assistant Director (Corporate and Contracted Services) and the Group Manager (Legal and Corporate Services) as there is a short timescale of 14 days to determine these applications.

Councillor Tindall asked if the Highways Act 1980 would come back into law at the end of September 2021 unless there are any further regulations.
F Hussain confirmed this would be the case. She said some amendments proposed in the Lords deal with aspects of being able to extend the law if necessary.

Councillor Williams suggested it would likely to be made permanent if it was successful.

Councillor Birnie asked if the license is only valid for one year, do applicants have to pay £100 every year.
F Hussain confirmed this would be the case.

Councillor Griffiths asked if the license was granted for maximum of a year but minimum of three months, would the last time the council could grant licences be in June 2021.
F Hussain confirmed this.

Recommendations agreed.