Report of the Transactional and Licensing Team Manager is attached.

Contact: Mandy Beever (01743 251702)

49.1    Members received the report of the Transactional and Licensing Team Manager in relation to revised fees for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 for licences and licensing related activities where the Authority has the discretion to determine the relevant fees.

49.2    The Transactional and Licensing Team Manager advised Members that in setting the new fees, recognition of the effects the current pandemic was having on businesses and that increases were kept as low as possible and in many cases, there were no increases.

49.3    In response to a question the Transactional and Licensing Team Manager informed the meeting that work was ongoing with regard to a separate charging regime for christmas markets but that this had been delayed by the current pandemic.

49.4    In response to a question around the licencing of certain health treatments that did not currently come under the licencing legislation, the Transactional and Licensing Team Manager advised the meeting that there was currently work being undertaken by central government to standardise the situation but that again this had been delayed by the pandemic.

49.5    In response to a question regarding why the Council did not currently licence residential caravan parks, the Transactional and Licensing Team Manager stated that this was  a matter that was on the list of policies to be introduced but there was a large amount of work to enable this.

49.6    In response to a question regarding fees for fireworks the Transactional and Licensing Team Manager confirmed that the charge only applied to those companies that traded fireworks and to those companies putting on professional displays.

49.7    Members thanks Officers for all the work that they had carried out in setting the fees.

49.8    RESOLVED:

2.1 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 2021 and instructs the Trading Standards and Licensing Operations Manager to arrange for the fees to be included in the 2021/22 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 2021/22 financial year and to publish all relevant statutory fees on the licensing pages of the Council’s website as soon as is practicable.

2.2 That the Committee implements, with any necessary modification and with effect from 1 April 2021, the proposed fees as set out in Appendices D, E, F, G and H 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 2021/22 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.

2.3 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 undertake the necessary work to consult and implement the fees.

2.4 That the Committee instructs the Trading Standards and Licensing Operations Manager to arrange for the proposed fees as set out in Appendix F, with any necessary modification, to be included in the 2021/22 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 fees to be confirmed by the Strategic Licensing Committee’.