Agenda and minutes

Any apologies for absence that have been received will be noted at this point.

The Chairman welcomed Giusj Di Lauro, Litigation and Licensing Lawyer to the Committee.

Apologies had been received from Mr Budge and Mrs Plant.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the General Licensing Committee meetings held on 23 March 2016 and 17 May 2016.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meetings held on 23 March 2016 and 17 May 2016 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Chairman will announce any urgent items which due to special circumstances are to be dealt with under agenda item 8b.

The Chairman advised that there were no urgent items to be considered at this meeting.

Members and officers are reminded to make any declarations of disclosable pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests they may have in respect of matters on the agenda for this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

Questions submitted by members of the public in writing by noon on the previous working day (for a period of up to 15 minutes).

There were no public questions.

The committee will receive a presentation on Chichester Vision from Mr Oates.

The Chairman introduced Mr Oates who gave a presentation on the Chichester Vision project.

The Chichester Vision project is the collaborative work of a number of partners who are pulling together ideas to address ways to ensure Chichester reaches its potential as a visitor destination, shopping destination, business centre and cultural heritage city. There are six main areas of consideration:

·       Economy

·       Culture

·       Heritage

·       Environment

·       Technology

·       Planning

Participation workshops have taken place with residents, business owners and students to gather opinion on the following areas:

·       Business

·       Ease of access

·       Visiting the city

·       Shopping

·       Chichester as a place to live

A physical audit has been carried out to assess the visitor experience, how the city is built and the cultural and heritage assets on offer.

Mr Oates outlined some of the projects main considerations:

·       Ensuring all demographics are served and consider the City is ‘their’s

·       Integrating and keeping students from the university and the college

·       Visitor economy and night-time economy

·       Large brands being unable to secure suitable property in the city centre and having to locate on the outskirts of the city

·       Development opportunities

·       The potentially large number of new homes in the district which will require additional facilities

·       Chichester as a retail destination and shopping ‘experience’ including issues such as the integration of the cultural attractions, areas to meet and the potential for outdoor café options in the city centre

·       Traffic, public realm, pedestrian access and street furniture

·       The impact of buskers and peddlers

·       The recent introduction of regular markets

·       Business Improvement District (BID), Chichester Festival Theatre (CFT), Pallant House Gallery (PHG), The Novium Museum, Chichester Cathedral and Goodwood running large events which attract visitors from out of the area who are not integrated into the city centre

The following ideas are being discussed:

·       Calming the City Centre traffic and giving more priority to pedestrians

·       Shared space and outside events to encourage additional visitors

·       Improved signage

·       Attracting new hotels and amenities to the city

·       Night time economy including later shopping hours, provision of a concert hall, nightclub, a comedy or live music venue, outdoor performance space, later dining opportunities and associated licensing hours

·       Development opportunities at Northgate and Eastgate

·       Changes to the Northgate gyratory to better link CFT and Oaklands Park with the rest of the city

·       New business sectors

·       Encouraging high end financial firms to relocate

·       Building a centre for wider professional services (if mega speed broadband can be offered)

Opportunities to create business, leisure, outdoor, retail areas and accommodation at the Southern Gateway are also being considered, covering the following sites:

·       The bus station

·       The bus depot

·       Basin Road car park

·       The law court

·       The Canal

·       The Police sports field

·       Surplus land at Chichester High School for Boys

·       The Royal Mail depot

The committee made the following comments which were answered by officers:

·       Retaining students in the city is a big issue as the degrees on offer at the university do not suit the jobs on offer in the city. The university should consider offering itself as a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

The committee is requested to approve a review of the Council’s current taxi and private hire policy and conditions and consider the creation of an Officer/Member working group to help inform proposed changes.

Mr Barson introduced the report explaining that officers seek the Committee’s approval to review the Council’s current Taxi and Private Hire licensing policy and conditions through the formation of a working group. Existing policy was adopted in 2010 and 2012 and has helped create the framework for consistent decision making. Due to legislative changes a number of areas will benefit from the review:

·       Possible driver training on the prevention of child exploitation

·       A knowledge test at the point of first application for private hire drivers

·       Frequency of driver medicals

·       Vintage leasing for private hire vehicles

Following the working groups redraft all key stakeholders will be consulted prior to the Committee adopting the policy.

RESOLVED

1.     That officers commence a review of the Council’s current taxi and private hire policy and conditions

2.     That a member/officer working group be established to help inform proposed changes

Mr Ridd requested three volunteers to join the working group. Mr Connor, Mr Elliott, Mr Macey and Mr Potter volunteered. It was agreed that Mr Barson would contact the absent members of the Committee prior to Mr Ridd finalising the Working Group.

(a)  Items added to the agenda papers and made available for public inspection;

(b)  Items which the chairman has agreed should be taken as matters of urgency by reason of special circumstances to be reported at the meeting.

Part 2

(Items for which the press and public are/may be excluded)

There are no restricted items for consideration by the General Licensing Committee at this meeting.

The Chairman advised that there were no late items to be considered at this meeting.