Issue - meetings

Report No:   CAB/JT/18/018

Portfolio Holder: SEBC Cllr Alaric Pugh and FHDC Cllr Lance Stanbury            

Lead Officers: Julie Baird, David Collinson and Andrea Mayley

RESOLVED:

That:

(1)     the proposed approach for consultation on the following policies, as set out in Report No: CAB/JT/18/018,  be agreed:

(a)     Taxi policy

(b)     Street Trading and Vending policy

(c)     Enforcement policy; and

(2)     the FHDC Portfolio Holder for Planning and Growth be asked to take decisions on undertaking the following consultations under their existing delegated authority:

(a)     Statement of Licensing Policy; and

          (b)     Newmarket Cumulative Impact Area.

In addition, and following the consideration of an addendum to the original Report No: CAB/JT/18/018, which necessitated consideration of issues relating to exploring the scope for retaining existing Hackney Carriage licensing zones, the following decisions have also been made to clarify the process that will be undertaken:

RESOLVED:

That:

(3)     it be noted that officers are exploring the necessity to combine the hackney carriage licensing areas of Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury for the new single West Suffolk Council;

(4)     it be noted that, as resolved in (1) above, the recommendation set out in the original Report No: CAB/JT/18/018, which seeks to undertake consultation on taxi policy transition options, continues as proposed; and

(5)     the current approach for the taxi policy transition consultation, as outlined in paragraphs 1.6 and 1.7 of the Addendum to Report No: CAB/JT/18/018, be agreed.

The Joint Committee considered the above report, which sought approval for a proposed approach for consulting on licensing and regulation policies to be harmonised in preparation for the creation of West Suffolk Council.

As Forest Heath District and St Edmundsbury Borough Councils moved towards the creation of a single council for West Suffolk from 1 April 2019, it was acknowledged that in respect of Licensing and Regulatory services, new West Suffolk policies needed to be in place that reflected the purpose of regulation in protecting the public, regulating business activity and enabling growth.

Updating the policy framework was a matter for the Shadow Authority and its Executive, and in this case, taking advice from the Licensing and Regulatory Committee and officers.  The approach to the review took into account the principles set out in the adopted Single Council Implementation Plan developed for that purpose.  Specifically, these principles set certain parameters, as summarised in paragraph 1.1.2 of the report.

The report detailed the proposed approach to policy harmonisation, including that some policies:

(a)     were already harmonised but required decisions for renewal;

(b)     required harmonisation decisions to be made for the Planning and Regulatory Service;

(c)     were already harmonised and would only be subject to minor amendment and were anticipated to be ‘rolled forward’ to West Suffolk Council; and

(d)     other additional planning and regulatory publications and decisions required for 2018/19 in the normal course of business as they were due for renewal.

These policies referred to above were listed in the report accordingly.

The policy areas and proposed approach to harmonisation listed in Section 1.1.7 of the report were for specific consideration at this meeting. Consultation on each of the proposed approaches would be undertaken with stakeholders and interested parties accordingly, details of which was provided in Section 2 of the report.

Councillor Alaric Pugh, SEBC Portfolio Holder for Planning and Growth drew relevant issues to the attention of the Joint Committee, including that an addendum to Report No: CAB/JT/18/018 had been previously circulated which provided further information on exploring the scope for retaining existing hackney carriage licensing zones. However, whilst a different approach was proposed in this addendum, this had not affected the proposal to still undertake the original consultation process on taxi policy transition options, as proposed in the original report.

In response to a question, the Joint Committee was informed that the mandatory training for existing and new taxi drivers was working well and was already incorporated into a harmonised policy and therefore would be ‘rolled forward’ to West Suffolk Council, as referred to in (c) above.

The Joint Committee was supportive of the proposed approaches for consultation on the various policies detailed in the report, including the different consultation approach on taxi policy transition options, as set out in the addendum.

RESOLVED:

That:

(1)     the proposed approach for consultation on the following policies, as set out in Report No: CAB/JT/18/018,  be agreed:

(a)     Taxi policy

(b)     Street Trading and Vending policy

(c)     Enforcement policy; and

(2)     the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24