Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies and details of any substitutions.

Apologies were received from Councillors Hewitt, Lynch and Randall.

Councillor Peter Evans was substituting for Councillor Mike Hewitt.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution.

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on Wednesday 19 September in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on Friday 21 September.. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

No questions had been submitted to the Committee from the public prior to the meeting and there were no members of the public present at the meeting.

The report of Linda Holland (Licensing Manager – Public Health and Protection) seeks to make amendments to the list of fees and charges as required by new regulations “The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities involving Animals) (England) Regulations” coming into effect from 1 October 2018 and that decisions in relation to the determination of licences and enforcement action be delegated to the relevant Head of Service and/ or Licensing Manager - Public Health and Protection from the 1 October 2018.

Linda Holland (Licensing Manager) referred to the report circulated with the Agenda which informed the Committee of forthcoming changes to the way in which animal boarding establishments, dog breeding establishments, pet shops and riding establishments are licensed; and the commencement of responsibility for the licensing of the keeping of animals for exhibition.  The report also sought to recommend adoption of delegation arrangements and approval of fee levels required to administer the new arrangements.  Linda highlighted the following:

·       At the last committee meeting on 3 September, Members were informed about the new animal licensing regulations that would come into force from 1 October 2018.  Following legal advice, it had been confirmed that the Council would need to have agreed fees in place by that date to apply to any applications after that date and have a set out appeals process;

·       The legislation sought to ensure more robust measures for animal welfare and Officers would seek to award well run establishments a full 3-year licence;

·       The proposed fees (attached at Appendix 2 of the report) had been calculated to cover the costs of the implementation of the licence grant and subsequent inspection visits that would be required;

·       It was anticipated that the Officer time for inspections would at least be doubled as the inspection document had gone from 8 pages to 24 pages;

·       Three information seminars were planned for evenings in October and 120 of the 150 spaces offered had already been filled;

·       It was hoped that the Council would be able to “go live” with the new application process from 1 October and had currently designed their own application form as Defra still had not produced one for use;

·       From 31 December 2018, all existing licences would expire and all those currently with a licence would need to reapply should they choose to do so;

·       The proposed fees (if agreed) would be in place until the end of the financial year.  They would be reviewed as part of the budget process by Council in February 2019 and if there were any changes proposed to the fees, this would be brought back to the Licensing Committee in March 2019 as part of the briefing document; and

·       Linda would be utilising the existing Dog Warden service to help carry out the inspections whilst a couple members of the Licensing Team gained the relevant training and experience.  The new regulations have meant that the Team were having to be pulled away from their current licensing work.

The Chairman thanked Linda and her team for all their work in implementing the new regulations and requested that a briefing note be prepared for Members in anticipation of any questions they may receive from their constituents.

Councillors asked the following questions:

Q        How much would a licence cost today and then after 1 October?

A        For a home border now it would cost £111 pa and then for a 3 year           licence after 1 October it would be approximately £60 more.

Q        Does the legislation affect franchise  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

Members are asked to note the future meetings of the Licensing Committee, all to commence at 10.30am:

3 December 2018

11 March 2019.

Members noted the date of future meetings of the Licensing Committee as detailed below, all to start at 10.30am

3 December 2018

11 March 2019.

There were no urgent items.