Agenda and minutes

Procedural matters

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Michael Anderson, Rachel Hood, Beccy Hopfensperger, Ian Houlder and Marilyn Sayer.

Councillors Patrick Chung and Aaron Luccarini were also unable to attend the meeting.

Any member who is substituting for another member should so indicate, together with the name of the relevant absent member.

The following substitutions were declared:

Councillor Mick Bradshaw substituting for Councillor Michael Anderson;

Councillor Mike Chester substituting for Councillor Rachel Hood; and

Councillor David Smith substituting for Councillor Marilyn Sayer

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 29 January 2024 (copy attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 29 January 2024 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, other registerable or non-registrable interest which they have in any item of business on the agenda, no later than when that item is reached and, when appropriate, to leave the meeting prior to discussion and voting on the item.

There were no declarations of interest made.

Members of the public who live or work in the District are welcome to speak and may ask one question or make a statement of not more than three minutes duration relating to items to be discussed in Part 1 of the agenda only.  If a question is asked and answered within three minutes, the person who asked the question may ask a supplementary question that arises from the reply.

A person who wishes to speak must register at least 15 minutes before the time the meeting is scheduled to start.

There is an overall limit of 15 minutes for public speaking, which may be extended at the Chair’s discretion.

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

Report No: LIC/WS/24/002

Following the receipt of a request for a formal taxi fare review the Licensing & Regulatory Committee considered this matter at their meeting on 29 January 2024 and resolved to adopt a revised table of fares for West Suffolk.

As required in legislation, the revised table of fares was subsequently advertised via a local paper and a consultation period commenced.

Two responses were received during the consultation period, attached as Appendix A to Report No LIC/WS/24/002, which therefore required the matter to be brought back to the Committee for further consideration.

Officers were continuing to recommend that the table of fares, attached as Appendix B to the report, should come into effect without modification on 22 April 2024.

It was proposed by Councillor Liz Smith, seconded by Councillor Don Waldron and with the vote being unanimous it was

RESOLVED:

That the taxi fares table, set out in Appendix B of Report No LIC/WS/24/002, be adopted without modification to come into effect on 22 April 2024.

Officers will provide a verbal report on this item

The Food, Safety & Licensing Manager verbally advised the Committee that the Licensing Authority undertook consultation on West Suffolk’s Street Trading Policy, in advance of a policy review, during the period 5 February 2024 to 18 March 2024.

The consultation had sought views from street traders, businesses, events organisers, Town and Parish councils, residents and other stakeholders on some of the issues which could potentially be covered and addressed in the new policy.

Members were informed that the Council had received a good level of response overall and the key positive and negative points raised were outlined to the Committee.

The Food, Safety & Licensing Manager explained that Officers would now work to implement the consultation response within the review of the policy document for ultimate adoption by Cabinet later in the year.

The Chair asked for all Members of the Committee to be notified when the Street Trading Policy was due to be presented to Cabinet, so they could view the document and make representations to the meeting if they wished. The Democratic Services Officer agreed to action this when the Cabinet agenda in question was published.