Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes from the last meeting.

There were no minutes to be agreed at this meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor Allen, Bowden, Imarni, Johnson and Pringle.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

There was no public participation

Nathan March presented the report to the Committee.

Each year the fees and charges are reviewed for those that are set by DBC,  the majority of the fees are set by the licensing health and safety committee, however some have additional procedures which need to be followed, there are also some fees which are set nationally which cannot be changed.

Taxi related fees have to be advertised by way of a notice and do a consultation, the responses then have to be taken into account before the fees are finalised.

Scrap metal fees are a cabinet function but delegated to officers, therefore Mark Brookes will need to consider these fees.

Animal Licensing fees have increased quite significantly compared to other fees, this is due to required officer training and therefore DBC need to look to recover the cost of that training.

Caravan Licensing fees are already set for the forthcoming year.

Councillor Rogers would like to know in terms of commercial comparisons how do DBC rate against other local authorities.

N.March - although it is important to attract new business, we are in fact a regulatory body and it is important to meet that requirement, it is better to be less attractive but ensure we are getting good quality license holders. Comparisons aren’t made between fees as we base it on the cost we incur, we have to ensure DBC do not make a profit from the licences.

Decision

The Licensing, Health & Safety and Enforcement Committee set as the fees and charges payable by applicants in connection with applications and other processes for licences, registrations and permits the fees and charges as set out below, for the period from 1^st April 2020 to 31^st March 2021.

That authority to consider any objections arising from statutory notices pertaining to these fees be delegated to the Assistant Director (Corporate and Contracted Services) in consultation with the Chairman of the Licensing, Health & Safety and Enforcement Committee.