Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 27 October 2015.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 October 2015 were confirmed by the Members present and then signed by the Chairman.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors P Hearn and Whitman.

Councillor Barnes was absent.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)            may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct for Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

There were no declarations of interest.

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements and ask questions in accordance with the rules on Public Participation.

There was no public participation.

Before the meeting started the committee were advised by the officers to discard the report in the agenda due to several errors and a revised report was circulated.

D Ryder explained that the council had received a planning application for the use of a camp site at Brownlow Farm Barns, Pouchen End Lane, Hemel Hempstead. She said Environmental Health were consulted on the application as the council does not have a licence in place for camp sites so the officers had prepared a proposed set of standard licence conditions for the committee to discuss and approve after consulting other local authority conditions. These conditions would be used for any camp site application in the borough and not just for this application.

D Ryder gave background on the application stating that there were 3 tepees to be used for relaxation and studying Native American arts.

Councillor Bassadone asked if the tepees were large. D Ryder confirmed they were large and said they could accommodate approximately ten individuals in each tepee.

Several members of the committee expressed concerns about various points within the licensing conditions. The Chairman suggested that the officers rewrite the conditions incorporating the councillors comments and return to the committee with a new set of conditions. He asked members to highlight the particular areas of concern.

Councillor Mills referred to section H, paragraph vii and felt that 3 deep sinks per pitch was too many.

Councillor Taylor said the mathematics didn’t add up and the document was very confusing. He suggested they needed to either use acres or hectares in the density and spacing section of the conditions as using both would cause confusion.

Following a short discussion on the matter, the committee agreed with the officers that they would change the condition to ‘site density should not exceed 60 pitches per hectare’.

Councillor Mills didn’t feel that there were enough toilets being proposed. He felt that a dozen would be more appropriate.

Councillor Fantham said the water supply and waste disposal section was not specific and needed clarifying.

Councillor Taylor said it was an ill prepared document that needed to be rewritten.

Councillor Adshead referred to section 1 on page 4 and expressed concern that a three metre wide area may not be wide enough.

Councillor Peter asked if there was any legislation on alcohol consumption. T Cawthorne said it depended on the situation because if the campsite was someone’s home then it would be the same as anyone else consuming alcohol in their home. He explained that they would need to apply for a licence if anyone intended to sell alcohol on site or if they were planning an event on the land that would require a temporary events licence. He added that any applicant should consult licencing department for clarity.

Councillor Bassadone asked if the officers were aware of an unofficial site at Bunkers Park in Bunkers Lane. T Cawthorne said they weren’t aware of it but if they were informed of any problems they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

To consider passing a resolution in the following terms:

That, under s.100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 Schedule 12A Part 1, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, the public be excluded during the item in Part II of the Agenda for the meeting, because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that if members of the public were present during this item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information relating to: