Agenda for St Edmundsbury Licensing and Regulatory Committee on Tuesday 3 July 2018, 5.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Conference Chamber West, West Suffolk House, Western Way, Bury St Edmunds IP33 3YU

Contact: Christine Brain  Email: christine.brain@westsuffolk.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

91.

Election of Chairman 2018-2019

Minutes:

This being the first meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee since the Council’s Annual General Meeting on 17 May 2018, the Business Partner (Litigation and Licensing) opened the meeting and asked for nominations for Chairman of the Committee for 2018-2019.

 

Accordingly, Councillor John Burns nominated Councillor Margaret Marks  as Chairman, and this was duly seconded by Councillor Max Clarke. 

 

The Business Partner (Litigation and Licensing) asked whether there were any further nominations. 

 

Councillor Mike Chester then nominated Councillor Susan Glossop as Chairman, and this was duly seconded by Councillor Wayne Hailstone.

 

The Committee then took the vote.  With the vote being 4 for Councillor Margaret Marks, and 8 for Councillor Susan Glossop, it was

 

          RESOLVED:

 

          That Councillor Susan Glossop be elected Chairman for 2018-2019.

 

Councillor Susan Glossop then took the Chair for the remainder of the meeting and requested nominations for the election of Vice-Chairman.

92.

Election of Vice-Chairman 2018-2019

Minutes:

Councillor Susan Glossop nominated Councillor Clive Springett as Vice-Chairman and this was duly seconded by Councillor Sarah Broughton, and with the vote being 9 for and 3 abstentions, it was

 

          RESOLVED:

 

That Councillor Clive Springett be elected Vice-Chairman for 2018-2019.

93.

Substitutes

Minutes:

The following substitutions were declared:

 

Councillor Ian Houlder for Councillor Mary Evans.

Councillor Elaine McManus for Councillor Frank Warby.

 

94.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mary Evans, Beccy Hopfensperger and Frank Warby.

 

95.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 91 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 10 April 2018 (copy attached).

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 April 2018 were accepted by the Committee as an accurate record and were signed by the Chairman.

96.

Public Participation

Members of the public who live or work in the Borough are invited to put one question or statement of not more than 3 minutes duration relating to items on Part 1 of the agenda only. If a question is asked and answered within 3 minutes the person who asked the question may ask a supplementary question that arises from the reply. A person wishing to speak must register to speak at least 15 minutes before the meeting is scheduled to start. There is an overall time limit of 15 minutes for public speaking which may be extended at the Chairman’s discretion.

 

Minutes:

There were no questions/statements from members of the public.

97.

West Suffolk Local Air Quality - Progress Report (2017-2018) pdf icon PDF 115 KB

Report No: LIC/SE/18/004

Additional documents:

Minutes:

[Councillor Sarah Broughton declared a non-pecuniary interest – husband owns land, North-East of Bury St Edmunds, and remained in the meeting during the discussion.

 

Councillor Margaret Marks declared a non-pecuniary interest - owns property on Withersfield Road, Haverhill, and remained in the meeting during the discussion].

 

The Committee received Report No: LIC/SE/18/004, which reported on work undertaken during 2017 to meet Local Air Quality Regulations across the Borough, including specific work in relation to the Great Barton Air Quality Management Area.

 

Attached at Appendix 1 to the report was the West Suffolk 2018 Air Quality Annual Status Report, which followed the required format by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). 

 

For the majority of the Borough, it was reported that air quality remained good, being below national limits, and continued to show a long-term trend of slight year-on-year improvement.  However, there was one monitored location in the Borough which was above the national annual mean objective for nitrogen dioxide in 2017.  This being located in the newly formed Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) of Sicklesmere Road, Bury St Edmunds. 

 

Although levels of measured pollutants in all areas of St Edmundsbury remained in compliance with the national objectives, officers were aware that there were negative health impacts related to lower concentrations of certain pollutants, especially particulates.  Therefore, work would continue to monitor and improve air quality further.

 

Attached at Appendix 2 to the report was the Draft Great Barton Air Quality Management Area Action Plan, which had been developed with the support of a steering group that had met on a number of occasions.  A number of measures had been considered, some of which were not being pursued presently due to currently being impractical or not having a reasonable funding source.  However, a number of measures were being investigated, as detailed in the Action Plan.  These included moving the pedestrian crossing, which was currently located immediately adjacent to the AQMA, and improvements to the Thurston Road (Bunbury Arms) Junction of the A143.  Both of which were being investigated in conjunction with the Suffolk County Highways officer.

 

The report also included information on the Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) weight restriction on the A1088 between Ixworth and Elmswell, which was primarily within Mid Suffolk administrative area.  As a result of this restriction some HGV were not able to use the A1088 when trying to reach the A14, consequently forcing HGVs to use a longer route, often through Great Barton.  Officers were making a request to Suffolk County Council Highways to review the HGV restrictions along the A1088, asking for confirmation of the environmental impacts that this restriction supports and how they were judged to outweigh the air quality concerns in Great Barton.

 

The Chairman then invited Councillor Jim Thorndyke, Ward Member for Stanton to address the Committee in respect of this item.  He thanked the Committee for allowing him to speak.  He then set out his concerns regarding information contained within paragraphs 3.5 and 3.6 of the covering report  ...  view the full minutes text for item 97.

98.

West Suffolk Food Safety Services Plan 2018-2019 pdf icon PDF 103 KB

Report No: LIC/SE/18/005

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received Report No: LIC/SE/18/005, which asked members to consider and support the delivery of a West Suffolk Food Safety Service Plan for West Suffolk.

 

The report presented a West Suffolk Food Safety Service Plan (Appendix A), covering both the regulatory and support work undertaken by the Environmental Health Service to protect public health in West Suffolk  in respect of the food chain, whether working in food business or a food consumer.  As the Plan was an operational document, it would undergo regular review and change in future years.  Officers would continue to maintain and enhance dialogue with stakeholders which would help inform any revisions to the Plan, as well as helping to improve the services that the council delivered.

 

The Plan included elements of review over the last year as well as setting out the work for the coming year.  It also included information on the introduction of a fast-track re-rating inspection under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. 

 

The Team Leader (Commercial Environmental Health) then brought to the Committees attention a number of key outcomes set out in Appendix A.

 

Members considered the Service Plan and asked questions to which the Team Leader (Commercial Environmental Health) provided responses. In particular discussions were held on the new “take-out eat-well” scheme being launched in September 2018; the use of social media and the effects of bad publicity on food premises; and from August 2018 the introduction of charging for re-inspections for the new fast-track re-rating scheme.

 

Discussions were also held on the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (0-5) score, which was a national scheme rating, as well as the window sticker, which was currently only voluntary for businesses to display.  However, members were informed that the FSA was looking at making it mandatory to display the sticker to drive up food standards.

 

In response to a question raised, officers agreed to include in next years’ service plan the percentage of outcomes following complaints being received by the service.

 

In response to a question raised regarding staffing levels and the number of low level food interventions being carried forward into 2018-2019, members were informed that staff shortages had now been addressed to deal with the backlog.  Work to clear the outstanding lower-risk inspections was being carried out in close liaison with the Food Standards Agency Regulatory Delivery Assurance Team, and it was hoped this would be cleared by the end of December 2018.

 

Finally, a member of the committee asked whether it would be possible for members to shadow officers on visits to food premises to help them gain a better understand of the work involved, which the Team Leader (Commercial Environmental Health) was happy to arrange with members. 

There being no decisions required, the Committee noted the West Suffolk Food Safety Service Plan 2018-2019, attached as Appendix A to Report No: LIC/SE/18/005.

 

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