Report of the Trading Standards & Licensing Operations Manager is attached, marked 5.

Contact: Frances Darling (01743 251715)

Consideration was given to the report of the Trading Standards and Licensing Operations Manager in relation to the proposed revised fees for the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 for licences and licensing related activities. 

In response to a question regarding out of area taxi applications, the Trading Standards and Licensing Operations Manager explained that the impact of out of area taxi licensing was a recognised issue of concern, particularly in the areas of enforcement and maintaining a sufficiently robust level of standards.  The Operations Manager also explained that the concerns were shared by the Local Government Association and that local authorities across the country and the LGA were lobbying at a national level to get the Government to make changes to the law.  However there were currently no immediate indications that the changes required would be forthcoming. 

In response to a question, the Transactional and Licensing Team Manager provided an update on the digital transformation programme and the improvements that it would mean for Licensing.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Committee notes the statutory fees that Shropshire Council is required to charge in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003 as set out in Appendix A, in accordance with the Gambling Act 2005 as set out in Appendix B and in accordance with explosives and fireworks legislation as set out in Appendix C and recommends that the authority implements these fees (or if subject to statutory amendment, the relevant amended fees) on the 1 April 2018 and instructs the Trading Standards and Licensing Operations Manager to arrange for the fees to be included in the 2018/19 annual fees and charges reports that are presented to Cabinet and Council and further instructs the Trading Standards and Licensing Operations Manager to implement, as appropriate, any other statutory fees that may be brought into force during the 2018/19 financial year and to publish all relevant statutory fees on the licensing pages of the Council’s website as soon as is practicable. 

2.    That the Committee implements, with any necessary modification and with effect from 1 April 2018, the proposed fees as set out in Appendices D, E, F and G that relate to those licences and licensing related activities where the authority has the discretion to determine the fees and instructs the Trading Standards and Licensing Operations Manager to arrange for the fees to be included in the 2018/19 annual fees and charges reports that are presented to Cabinet and Council and further instructs the Trading Standards and Licensing Operations Manager to publish the fees on the licensing pages of the Council’s website as soon as is practicable. 

3.    That the Committee proposes to vary the fees relevant to driver, hackney carriage, private hire vehicle and operator licences as set out in Appendix F, with any necessary modification, and instructs the Trading Standards and Licensing Operations Manager, in accordance with the provisions of Section 70 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, to publish in the Shropshire Star a notice setting out those fees that it is proposed will be varied and specifying a period from 18 December 2017 to 4 February 2018 (this being not less than 28 days) within which and the manner in which objections to the proposed fees can be made.   

4.    Where no objections to the proposed variation in fees are received by 4 February 2018 or if all objections so made are withdrawn by the said date the Committee agrees to implement the proposed variation to the fees on 5 February 2018 or where objections to the proposed variation to the fees are received by 4 February 2018 and are not withdrawn by the said date, the Committee agrees to consider the objections at a meeting on the 7 March 2018 with a view to setting the date of 1 April 2018 (being a date not later than 2 months after the 5 February 2018) when the proposed variation to the fees shall come into force with or without further modification and further instructs the Trading Standards and Licensing Operations Manager to publish the agreed fees on the licensing pages of the Council’s website as soon as is practicable.

5.    That the Committee instructs the Trading Standards and Licensing Operations Manager to arrange for the proposed fees as set out inAppendix F, with any necessary modification, to be included in the 2018/19 annual fees and charges reports that are presented to Cabinet and Council and, where necessary, in respect of those fees a note is recorded in the said annual reports stating ‘Provisional fees under consultation between 18 December 2017 to 4 February 2018 fees to be confirmed by the Strategic Licensing Committee by 7 March 2018’.