Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies were received from Cllr Apel and Cllr Chant.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the General Licensing Committee meeting held on Wednesday 28 February 2024.

Minutes from the General Licensing Committee held Wednesday 28 February 2024 were approved as a correct record.

The Chairman 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.

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

The Chair invited Helen Marshall, CEO of the Chichester Business Improvement District (BID) to ask her question:

Question: “Whilst accepting as a very positive move that the proposed introduction of fees for Pavement Licences has been deferred until September 2025, I would ask that the Committee further consider whether this is a long-lasting solution or is it just merely delaying an additional upcoming cost being levied at our struggling hospitality businesses?

The cost of issuing and enforcing these licenses is relatively modest for the council but would represent a considerable additional burden to our city’s hospitality businesses, who are still facing enormous pressures from the Cost-of-Living Crisis.

I would ask the Committee if it were possible to explore that the small cost of the Council’s newly acquired administrative burden in this area be sought from other means and not automatically levied against our High Street businesses, given they are going through an unprecedented period of upheaval and transformation? This would give a strong message to our High Street that the Council is taking seriously the undoubted challenges they all currently face”.

Answer: This question is very similar in nature to the Public Question submitted in relation to Agenda Item 9, Pavement Licences, at the meeting of Cabinet held on 11^th June 2024.  I can confirm that the position remains unaltered in that the Council continues to seek to take a proactive approach in terms of supporting and driving forward the hospitality sector and in particular the evening and night time economy.  

With regards specifically to the Council’s new permanent responsibility to both administer and ensure compliance with the provisions relating to Pavement Licensing under the Business and Planning Act 2020, the Council fully recognises the importance of a strong, vibrant and safe hospitality sector.  However, the expectation is that the cost of both administering and ensuring compliance with the various statutory provisions should ordinarily be charged for in accordance with the Council’s adopted fees and charges policy which is based on the ‘service user pays’ principle.  The Committee will naturally consider the costs of providing this service and will seek to apply a fair charging structure which is commensurate with the activities required of the Council in terms of providing this licensing function.  The proposed fees are well within the capped maximum of £500 for a new licence and £350 for a renewal and have been calculated purely on a cost recovery basis.’

Members commented on the costings that were outline in the agenda papers and indicated they seemed excessive and questioned why the council were charging so much.

*RECOMMENDED TO THE LICENSING COMMITTEE

3.0      Cabinet recommends to licensing committee that at its meeting on 3rd July:

3.1      the proposed  fees duration and conditions of licences be adopted;

3.2      the introduction of the proposed license fees be deferred until 30th September 2025 to support:

3.2.1   The regeneration of our City and the transformation of our high streets;

3.2.2   An improved evening and night-time economy (ENTE) offer for all ages;

3.3      any licenses granted in the interim be for a period expiring no later than 30th September 2025.

Mr Knowles-Ley, Licensing Manger presented a short introduction on the item. Mr Knowles-Ley stated that since 2020 the council has been responsible for processing the determination of applications for pavement licences under the Businesses and Planning Act 2020. Initially this was on a recurring annual temporary basis. However, in April 2024, following the coming into effect of new provisions under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, the administration compliance checks, and enforcement responsibilities of pavement licenses have become a permanent licensing function of the council. The council is now required to determine locally set fees within a statutory capped maximum of £500 for a new licence and £350 for a renewal.

Mr Knowles-Ley stated that licenses can be granted subject to conditions; the councils existing conditions have been reviewed and some minor amendments are being proposed. The legislation originally enacted was introduced as a direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was part of a of several measures to help business adjust to alternative ways of working, particularly whilst social distancing was in place.

To support the hospitality sector, the council determined not to charge for a pavement licence, with the maximum fee at the time potentially being £100. Officers have undertaken analysis of the cost of administering ensuring compliance with the pavement license regime.

Cllr Vivian addressed the Committee. Cllr Vivian stated that at the last Cabinet meeting he stressed to the council they should continue to provide the licensing service at a low cost or at no cost at all to local businesses. Additionally, Cllr Vivian affirmed that in his ward, over 10% of residents work in the hospitality sector.  Cllr Vivian questioned why the council were proposing to charge four times as much as they would have done during the pandemic. Furthermore, Cllr Vivian asserted that the priority of the council was to keep the cost of pavement licensing as low as possible. Cllr Vivian also indicated that charging more than £360 for pavement licensing was a step back for local businesses.

Officers responded and detailed that it was important to recognise that during Covid the government set the statutory fee at £100. Officers also added that as a local authority, Chichester decided to waive that fee. Moreover, officers specified that the government had also set the standard of a maximum of £500. Officers added they in comparison to other councils they were ahead in the process of following central governments statutory guidance and that they had calculated a fair fee relative to issuance of pavements licenses.

Members of the Committee stated that they sympathised with the Chichester BID represented by Helen Marshall. Members stated that they did have concerns about the costs but understood that the council did need to protect their resources and enquired if the fees could be reduced. Members asked if it would be possible to set up payment plans for smaller business that might struggle to pay the required fees. Members also asked if the fees could he reviewed in 2025  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.

(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.

There were no Late Items.

Part 2

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

That in accordance with section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (the Act) the public and the press be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following item on the agenda for the reason that it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted that there would be disclosure to the public of “exempt information” being information of the nature described in Paragraph 1 (information relating to any individual) of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

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

There were no Part II items.