Decision details

(1)        That the Cabinet noted that the Business and Planning Bill was at Committee Stage in the House of Lords and was likely to get Royal Assent this month and that the Council should have a process in place to determine licensing applications made under the Act;

(2)   That in order to achieve the tight timelines for determination of Licence Applications under the new Act, the Cabinet agreed:

(a)  To amend the Scheme of Delegation and add decision making authority to the role of Director of Contract and Technical Service / Director of Commercial and Regulatory Services in respect of applications that do not receive any objections and those that do receive objections the Portfolio Holder for Commercial and Regulatory Services or the Leader of the Council be consulted as well as the Chair or Vice Chair of the Licensing Committee before a decision can be made;

(b)  That Consultations on licence applications be carried out by electronic and digital means only;

(c)   That the relevant ward members would be consulted on any license applications related to their ward;

(d)  That Licence fee will be as set out in Resource Implication section of the report;

(e)  That the licence period shall be the maximum permissible under the Act currently likely to be up to September 2021; and

(f)    That Licensing Conditions as attached to the report were adopted.

(3)        That the Chairman of Council agreed to waive the call-in for this decision on the grounds that the implementation of these recommendations would need to be put into immediate practice as soon as the Act received its Royal assent.