Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 13^th March 2018, copies of which had been circulated, were taken as read, and having been approved were signed by the Chairman as a correct record of the proceedings.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Neil Bloomfield, Dave Bulmer, Val Keitch, David Norris, Crispin Raikes, Angie Singleton and Wes Read.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

a)    Questions/comments from members of the public

This is a chance for members of the public and representatives of Parish/Town Councils to participate in the meeting by asking questions, making comments and raising matters of concern.

There were no members of the public present at the meeting however one member raised an issue in relation to the Street Trading Policy and questioned the process for reviewing policies.

The Licensing Officer (Operational) introduced the report which updated members on the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals (England) Regulations 2018.  She explained that the legislation introduced the ability for licences to last longer than one year, there would be a requirement to risk assess each premises and provide each premises with a star rating.  There would also be more requirement for licence holders to keep records and provide staff training.  The Licensing Officer (Operational) advised that the Regulations set out what could be charged for and due to how these licences were to be administered and inspected meant that new fees would need to be set.  The proposed new fees would cover the costs involved in administering the licence and the cost of the inspection and ongoing enforcement costs.  She outlined the proposed fees and explained that the fee had been split into an application fee and licence fee because once granted the licence could last longer than a year.

The Licensing Officer (Operational) responded to members’ questions on points of detail.  Members were informed of the following:

·         A Day Care licensed premise related specifically to a centre providing day care.  There were two in South Somerset – one in Yeovil and the other located in Templecombe;

·         There was no requirement for Animal Sanctuaries to be licenced;

·         Dog walking was not classed as a licensable activity;

·         Riding Establishments only required a licence if they hired out horses to the public;

·         The Licensing Officer had contacted the licence holders to inform them of the changes and had also put together some information sheets;

·         There were significant changes with regard to Home boarding which was causing problems and would have a detrimental effect on some businesses.  She was aware that the issues had been raised by some of the operators with the local MP;

·         An applicant could appeal against the star rating that had been awarded and would be provided with information explaining why the rating was awarded;

·         The documents to be used for undertaking the risk assessments were provided by DEFRA.

At the conclusion of the debate, members were content to approve the proposed fees for licensing of animal activities as outlined in the agenda.

Members noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Licensing Committee would be held on Tuesday 11^th December 2018 at 10.00am in Council Chamber B at the Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil.