Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies were received from Cllr Bangert, Cllr Evans, Cllr Page and Cllr Potter.

The Committee is requested to approve as a correct record the minutes of the General Licensing Committee meeting held on 1 November 2021.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 November 2021 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

The Chair will announce any urgent items that due to special circumstances are to be dealt with under the agenda item below relating to Late Items.

There were no urgent items.

Details of members’ personal interests arising from their membership of parish councils or West Sussex County Council or from their being Chichester District Council or West Sussex County Council appointees to outside organisations or members of outside bodies or from being employees of such organisations or bodies.

Such interests are hereby disclosed by each member in respect of agenda items where the Council or outside body concerned has been consulted in respect of that particular item or application.

Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are to be made by members of the Committee in respect of matters on the agenda or this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

In accordance with Chichester District Council’s scheme for public question time the Committee will receive any questions which have been submitted by members of the public in writing by noon two working days before the meeting. Each questioner will be given up to three minutes to ask their question. The total time allocated for public question time is 15 minutes subject to the Chair’s discretion to extend that period.

There were no public questions.

The Committee is requested to consider the report and make the following resolution:

That the General Licensing Committee approves the revised skin piercers policy, fees and charges.

Mrs Dyer introduced the report. She informed the Committee that the current registration charge was for a single fee of £87 covering both premises and practitioners. However, this is not compliant with legislation that requires both premises and practitioners to be registered separately.

Mrs Dyer drew the Committee’s attention to the proposed charges as set out in section 5 of the report.

Officers responded to Members’ questions and comments as follows;

In response to a question from Cllr Barrie; Mrs Dyer informed the Committee all skin piercers currently registered with the Council had been informed of the proposed changes to fees and charges from 1 July 2022. Those already registered with the Council would be given until 1 September 2022 to renew their registration at no extra charge. All new registrations would take effect from 1 July 2022.

In a response to a question from Cllr Moss; Mrs Dyer confirmed that both premises and practitioner must be registered. Any person working at a registered premises must hold their own practitioner licence. A person with a practitioner’s licence can work at different premises within the District as long as the premises is also registered.

In response to a question from Cllr Moss; Mrs Dyer informed the Committee that the charges were comparable with other authorities and gave some examples. She explained that Chichester was higher than some authorities as it was big district and travel allowance had been considered when the fees were structured.

In response to a question from Cllr Moss; Mrs Dyer informed the Committee that checks for tattooists, piercers and acupuncturists were included within the team service plan and rotated on yearly basis. However, if a complaint is made regarding a practitioner or premises the Environmental Health Officers and Technicians would investigate straight away. Mrs Dyer explained that a registration can not be refused, however, once registered the applicant or premises are issued with a number of by-laws; should they fail to comply then (following investigation) notices can be served on them.

In response to a question from Cllr Taylor; Mrs Dyer explained that when spot checks were carried out, they were done so without prior notification; unless the premises was a domestic property and then a notice period of 24 hours was required.

In response to a question from Cllr McAra; Mrs Dyer informed the Committee that there was no cross boundary working, a practitioner registered in a neighbouring authority would not be able to operate within Chichester District.

On the advice of Ms Di Lauro; Mrs Dyer provided the Committee with further details of the powers available under the Health and Safety Act to the Council.

In a vote the Committee agreed the following resolution:

That the General Licensing Committee approves the revised skin piercers policy, fees and charges.

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

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

There were no late items.

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

There was no requirement to exclude the press and the public.