Agenda and minutes

None

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

Cllr J Seymour asked for clarification in relation to the wording of the last minutes around “to no change to the make of Telford and Wrekin”. Officers confirmed that this would be investigated outside of the meeting.

 RESOLVED- that the minutes of the meeting held on the 12th October 2021 be approved and signed by the chair

The Public Protection Group Manager presented the report on the update of Licence Fees 2022/23. The licence fees and charges were normally reviewed annually, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic and although the licence fees has gone through a review process, it was the decision of the Council not to increase fees in order to support businesses.

Committee Member’s asked for clarification as to who were the “groups of people”, that would not be affected, as identified within the report, as it would affect licence holders. The Principal Licensing Officer confirmed that related to the Community Impact Assessment and referred to protected characteristics as defined under the Equality Act such as age, gender and race.

The review has been carried out in accordance with Government Guidance in relation to the setting fees with a proposed implementation date for the new level of fees of 1^st April 2022.  The report set out the financial and legal implications. Some fees had been reduced where licence processes had been streamlined. However it was worth noting that only certain costs could be recovered owing to the legislative provisions. Licence fees for taxis, gambling and street trading that required a public consultation, and this had taken place over 28 days, from 2nd February to 1st March 2022. It was noted that no responses had been received.

The Public Protection Group Manager updated the Committee on the Appendices attached to the report which set out the majority of the fee changes in relation to all of the licensing fees charged by the Council, and the draft Mobile Homes fee and Charges Policy for the 2022-23 financial year. The Committee members asked why some Gambling licence fees were being reduced. The Public Protection Group Manager stated that the current fees for annual inspections were based on each type of premises. However, having carried out inspections during the last year it has been found that the time taken by officers to complete this process was the same for each type of premises. As a result, the fee has to be reduced because less officer time is spent carrying out inspections and the fees regime only allow fees to be set on a cost recovery basis.

Members queried what the licences for dangerous wild animals were for and expressed concern about whether these were the fees for the keeping of dangerous wild animals by members of the general public. The Public Protection Group Manager confirmed that these were the licence fees for pet shops who might wish to sell such exotic animals. The Council had invested in an officer who would train to achieve a BTEC Level 3 Certificate for Animal Inspectors, but if there was an animal that the Licensing Officer was not trained to inspect then it would require the attendance of an appropriate veterinary inspector which would incur a vet’s fee. Members asked if the changes to dangerous wild animal licence fees was an increase or decrease. The Public Protection Group Manager confirmed that it  ...  view the full minutes text for item LIC13