Agenda and minutes

Members in any doubt about such declarations are advised to contact Legal or Democratic Services in advance of the meeting

There were no declarations of interest made in accordance with the Code of Conduct.  However, in the interest of transparency, Councillor Rogers advised that his wife was a trustee of the Kingfisher Medway Trust which provided pleasure boat cruises and occasionally required a licence within the Borough.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of Licensing and Appeals Committee held on 14 September 2021.

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Appeals Committee held on 14 September 2021 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive the Minutes of the following meetings of the Licensing and Appeals Committee sitting as a Panel:

-        10 September 2021

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meetings of the Licensing and Appeals Committee sitting as a Panel held on 10 September 2021 be received and noted.  

The report provides details of the consultation process for the review of the Council’s current Statement of Principles for the Gambling Act 2005

The report of the Director of Central Services and Monitoring Officer presented a revised Statement of Principles for Gambling under the Gambling Act 2005.  The Council’s current policy took effect from 15 January 2019 and would run until 30 January 2022.  Due to the timings of the consultation being presented to the Committee, Members were asked to extend the current policy until 1 May 2022 and for the revised policy to run from 1 May 2022 to 30 January 2025.

The draft statement had been prepared having regard to guidance from the Gambling Commission and the report highlighted the licensing objectives, the responsible authorities for the Borough and the process for consultation over a twelve week period and adoption of the new policy.

RESOLVED:  That the current policy be extended until 1 May 2022 and that the draft policy set out at Annex 1 to the report, be approved for consultation.

This report sets out proposed fees and charges for 2022/23

Following a review of the existing fee structure the report of the Director of Central Services and Deputy Chief Executive set out details of the proposed licensing fees and charges for 2022/23 in respect of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire, Pleasure Boats and Boatmen, Scrap Metal Dealers, Animal Welfare, Street Trading Consents in Tonbridge, Sex Establishments and the licensing of premises and practitioners providing Acupuncture, Tattooing, Ear Piercing, Semi-permanent make-up and Electrolysis.

The Head of Licensing, Community Safety and Customer Service made a number of suggestions for fees and charges for 2022/23.  During discussion, further clarification was sought on scrap metal fees, street trading consents and animal welfare licences.  After careful consideration, it was

RESOLVED:  That the proposed scale of fees for licences, consents and registrations, as set out at the revised Annex 1 appended to the minutes, be adopted with effect from 1 April 2022.

The Chairman to move that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting during consideration of any items the publication of which would disclose exempt information.

The Chairman moved, it was seconded and

RESOLVED:  That as public discussion would disclose exempt information, the following matters be considered in private.

The report provides details of the impact of the pandemic on the hackney carriage and private hire trade.

The Head of Licensing provided an overview of the impact of Covid-19 on Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers in the Borough and made particular reference to  the resumption of the Knowledge tests which had previously been suspended as the offices were closed and Covid restrictions were in place.