Agenda item

NMarch introduced the report to members.

They key points were

Sometime last year they looked to help business they sped up pavement licences process, this usually would sit with Herts County Council however they have brought this over to the district and borough council, this was temporary legislation that would run up until September 2021, however with the restrictions running on longer they have indicated that they are looking to seek parliamentary approval to extend the process until 30th September 2022. Nothing else is changing. 

Previously when we discussed this we agreed we would charge £100 and that would run until the end of the legislation. What he asked is that we are still happy to do this and if they apply now this would be £100 up until September 2021 and then if they require a pavement licence next year they could apply and it will cost are further £100.

The other aspect is that pavement licences in the past had to have been agreed whereas the legislation at the moment, if they don’t do anything with it its considered as being agreed and issued anyway so there is a fast process in place, they currently have delegations to the assistant director and group manager for who have responsibility for licensing and were seeking for that to continue until the legislation conclude at the end of September 2022.

Currently it’s still seeking parliamentary approval but given the nature of what they’ve been looking at doing and the support for businesses he is confident that approval will be given so they need to make sure they have everything in place for when that happens.

NMarch asked the committee if they had any questions

Cllr Bassadone asked how many businesses do we have signed up at the moment, do you expect any more to apply.

NMarch said we only have 1 live licence however 2 further premises have enquired one of which has applied and due to go to consultation. He is expecting more will apply as they become more aware of the licence and were now only getting to the point where this will be valid, with lockdown and everything being closed also he said with the summer approaching more will be looking to apply. He said this will only to apply where the land in front is highway, he said that they did have one apply which was DBC land and this takes a different process.

Cllr Rogers asked Nathan if there were any plans to raise awareness with business as he feels this show that we are thinking of them and doing our best to help their businesses.

NMarch said there is nothing currently planned this is mainly due to resource however there is a lot of officer presence on the streets in terms of officer, for example Covid advisors, the licensing team’s enforcement officers looking at restrictions and they will be advising of options. He said that they don’t have a great way of getting out to licence premises as they come in all shapes and sizes and not just licensed premises, it covers unlicensed food and drink retailers also. He also said that government are releasing communication also with a roadmap and road to recovery which talks about alfresco dining. He said when they have previously sent letters out about changes it’s been a challenge as they were sending them out and then lockdown was announced again. It will also be a case of when businesses operate with tables and chairs without a licence where possible they will not enforce but advise they require a licence.

There could be an issue with noise nuisance however they will deal with that as and when it arises.

Cllr Rogers said in terms of encouraging this do they have email addresses that they could send notification out that could be helped by the Coms team.

NMarch said that it’s not always the premises that deal with the licence, it could be solicitors or agents. He said it’s not always the correct emails address from when they moved over from the magistrates or we have very limited details, postal is usually the way forward however this could be quite costly in terms of producing letters and sending them out, also to consider the other works that they have on at the time.

Recommendation

To agree the fees of £100 for pavement licensing will remain for a further year until 2022 should the issue of pavement licensing remain with the council for that time.

To agree that the duration of licences issued after the 30th September 2021 will be up to 12 months will all of those licences remaining until the 30th September 2022. To confirm that the delegation for responsibility for granting refusal and revocation of the licences including amending conditions remain with the Assistant Director Corporate & Contracted services and the Group Manager of Legal and Corporate services for the duration now the powers being with the council.

The committee agreed the recommendation