Agenda and minutes

This being the first meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee since the Authority’s Annual Meeting in May 2018, the Business Partner (Litigation/Licensing) opened the meeting and asked for nominations for the Chairman of the Committee for 2018/2019.

Councillor Brian Harvey nominated Councillor Michael Anderson as Chairman and this was seconded by Councillor Nigel Roman.

There being no other nominations, the motion was put to the vote and with the vote being unanimous, it was

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Michael Anderson be elected Chairman for 2018/2019.

Councillor Anderson then took the Chair for the remainder of the meeting.

Councillor Michael Anderson nominated Councillor Brian Harvey as Vice Chairman and this was seconded by Councillor Nigel Roman.

There being no other nominations, the motion was put to the vote and with the vote being unanimous, it was

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Brian Harvey be elected Vice Chairman for 2018/2019.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Carol Lynch.

There were no substitutes present at the meeting. 

Members of the public who live or work in the District are invited to put one question or statement of not more than three minutes duration relating to items 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 wishing to speak must register to speak at least 15 minutes before the time 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.

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

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 9 April 2018 (copy attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 April 2018 were accepted as an accurate record, with 7 voting for and with 2 abstentions, and were signed by the Chairman. 

Report No: LIC/FH/18/003

The Environment Officer presented this report which set out the work undertaken during 2017 in order to meet Local Air Quality regulations across the District.

Attention was drawn to Paragraphs 2.7 and 3.1 of Report No LIC/FH/18/003 which set out the actions taken by Officers over the past year and identified the next steps to be taken.

The Officer advised Members that pleasingly all areas across Forest Heath demonstrated compliance with the national standards for air quality.  This included the additional monitoring locations for Brandon which were added at the start of 2018.  Whilst the full year’s data for 2018 wouldn’t be available until next year; statistics gathered to date showed no higher levels at the new points than at any of the other Brandon monitoring locations. 

The Committee was also informed that there was one Air Quality Management Area within the District which was centred on Old Station Road in Newmarket.  The results from this increased monitoring indicated that the designated area may be able to be revoked in the near future, although Officers had recommended the completion of a further year of data collection (2018) prior to any final decision being made.

Lastly, reference was made to the work that Officers had been undertaking with the Licensing Team in order to reduce unnecessary vehicle idling by taxi drivers whilst in the rank in Newmarket.  The monitoring point adjacent to the taxi rank showed the largest decrease (9%) in NO₂ levels from 2016 to 2017 in Forest Heath.

Councillors Victor Lukaniuk and Reg Silvester (both Brandon Ward Members) spoke at length voicing concerns they had with regard to traffic and pollution within the town. 

Within the annual report, attached as Appendix A, reference was made to a recent traffic monitoring study undertaken by Suffolk County Council.  Both Councillor Lukaniuk and Silvester considered this data to be flawed.

Councillor Lukaniuk explained that he had requested an additional site to be included by Suffolk County Council as part of the monitoring study but it appeared from the data that this had not been done.  Furthermore, Councillor Lukaniuk strongly disputed the statement within the County Council’s report that “the majority of HGV traffic coming into Brandon does so for business uses and is not through traffic”.

Discussion also took place by other Members of the Committee on the need for the Highways Authority to look into traffic management solutions in relation to Brandon.

In light of these concerns the Chairman asked Officers to look into this matter with Suffolk County Council on behalf of the Committee and to report back. 

With the vote being unanimous, it was

RESOLVED:

That:-

1.   The work undertaken to improve local air quality in West Suffolk be noted; and

2.   Officers to raise Members comments and concerns with regard to Brandon traffic/air quality with Suffolk County Council and to report back to the Licensing and Regulatory Committee on the discussions held.

(Councillor Victor Lukaniuk left the meeting at 6.31pm on conclusion of this item.)

Report No: LIC/FH/18/004

The Team Leader (Commercial Environmental Health) advised Members that the Food Standards Agency required each regulatory authority to prepare, adopt and regularly review a Food Safety Service Plan.

Accordingly, the West Suffolk Food Safety Service Plan for 2018/2019 was attached as Appendix A to Report No LIC/FH/18/004.

As part of his presentation the Officer drew attention to specific ongoing and planned projects along with some pleasing statistics showing positive trends in food safety across West Suffolk.

Members applauded the report and the achievements made by the team of Officers.

The Service Manager (Environmental Health) also made reference to the systems improvements that had been put in place which had resulted in efficiencies being made. 

With the vote being unanimous, it was

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted and the delivery of the West Suffolk Food Safety Service Plan 2018/2019 be supported.

(Councillor Reg Silvester left the meeting at 6.35pm during the preliminary discussion of this item and prior to the voting thereon.)