To confirm the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2022.

The Minutes of the Committee of the Licensing Authority meeting held on 20 July 2022 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ashby, Dale and Kiddle-Morris.

To note whether the Chairman proposes to accept any item as urgent business, pursuant to Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

None.

The duties to register, disclose and not to participate for the entire consideration of the matter, in respect of any matter in which a Member has a disclosable pecuniary interest are set out in Chapter 7 of the Localism Act 2011.  Members are also required to withdraw from the meeting room as stated in the Standing Orders of this Council.

None declared.

To note the names of any non-members who wish to address the meeting.

None.

Verbal update by Josie Hoven, Senior Licensing Officer.

Josie Hoven, the Senior Licensing Officer provided Members with the following update.

Two large scale events had been held in the district this year, the ‘Maui Waui’ festival and the Sennowe Park festival both held near Dereham in the summer. A meeting was held beforehand in July with all partner agencies of the Safety Advisory Group at the Breckland Council offices.  Site inspections were also held in the week leading up to each event and visits to both events by local authority officers were undertaken.

A wash-up meeting with partner agencies would be held in November with the two organisers to discuss any issues that occurred, and to establish whether both festivals intend to take place again in 2023.

A survey in respect of premises licences had been undertaken, the results of which showed that in 2021, Breckland Council received 16 new premises licences applications under the Licensing Act 2003.  So far, in 2022, 9 new applications had been received.   The Licensing Team was beginning to see a slight downward turn as it was not anticipated that 7 would be received by the end of this year.

In 2021, 13 premises licences had been surrendered and this year, in 2022 there had been 5. Some had been expected and had not been a surprise as these had been businesses that had been closed for some time, except for 2 that had been unexpected.  A further update on such matters would be provided at the next meeting.

Temporary Event Notices (TENs) had exceeded expectations, with 78 being issued from 1 July 2022 but with a total of 303 being processed since the beginning of the year in January.  Compared to last year, from the 1 January 2021 to October 2021, just 149 were issued, a massive increase in people requiring TENs for different types of events.

In respect of animal welfare, Members were informed that earlier this year, in July 2022, Alan Goodall, the Animal Welfare Officer had a work experience person with him for most of the week.  This person was of school age who was hoping to go into the animal welfare field and positive feedback had been received from both parties. 

The Animal Welfare Officer had also been working on the Banham Zoo inspection, this had been undertaken with pre-inspection work by the Animal Welfare Officer and Zoo Inspectors.  There were a few issues that had be remedied and another visit would take place to ensure that these issues had been rectified. 

In the last quarter, three new licences had been issued under animal welfare and 4 more were currently in progress.  Pre-application advice had been undertaken for 3 new businesses, this was a new service being offered by the Animal Welfare Officer and was aside from his normal applications.  Alan had also attended a one-day licensing course at Colchester Zoo on reptiles, amphibians and exotic animals as many pet shops were now selling more species of this kind.

In respect of taxis, an officer had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13/22

Members were asked to inform the Senior Licensing Officer if any training was required in future.

Just one Panel meeting had been held since the last meeting which was for a Temporary Event Notice that had the Police had objected to but Members agreed to the application and the event went ahead with no complaints.

To note the arrangements for the next meeting on Wednesday, 11 January 2023 immediately following the Licensing Committee meeting which starts at 10am in the Anglia Room, the Conference Suite, Dereham.

The arrangements for the next meeting on Wednesday, 11 January 2023 immediately following the Licensing Committee meeting that starts at 10am were noted.