Issue - meetings

The purpose of this report is to establish the licensing fees and charges that should apply from 1 April 2024 for the next three years for those licensing activities where the Council has discretion to do so.

The statutory principle in relation to the setting of fees is that they should be reasonable and should relate to the costs of performing the function, including staffing, administration, testing, inspections, hearings, regulation and appeals.

Inflationary increases to staff salaries mean that costs to provide the service have increased. A 4% uplift in fees has been applied to reflect these increased costs.

The fees under review are as follows:

Scrap Metal Dealers

Pleasure Boats

Sexual Establishments

The fees charged under the Licensing Act 2003 are set by statute so cannot be amended by Local Authorities. The level of these fees have not been amended since they were first introduced in 2005.

The fees charged under the Gambling Act 2005 are subject to a statutory maximum limit. Currently our fees are at this limit and cannot be increased any further.

The Licensing Manager presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The purpose of the report was to establish the licensing fees and charges that should apply from 1 April 2024 for the next three years for those licensing activities where the Council had discretion to do so.

Inflationary increases to staff salaries meant that costs to provide the service had increased. A 4% uplift in fees had been applied to reflect these increased costs.

The fees under review were Scrap Metal Dealers (3 year Licence), Pleasure Boats and Sexual Establishments (both 1 year licences).

In response to various questions raised by the Committee, the Licensing Manager advised that:

• The fees only covered self-drive boats and passenger boats covering up to 12 passengers, inland only, and did not apply to visiting boats.
• The Licensing Team regularly liaised with Dorset Police with regard to the operation of scrap metal dealers in the conurbation to ensure compliance.
• Legislation stated that scrap metal operatives only required basic DPS checks, which they must fund themselves.

Cllrs Dowell and Farquhar abstained from voting on sex establishment licence fees due to a moral interest.

The Legal Adviser recommended that the vote be broken down into 3 parts so that Clls Dowell and Farquar could vote on the proposed fees for scrap metal dealers and pleasure boats.

RESOLVED that

1. The Licensing Committee agree the proposed fees, as stated, in relation to Scrap Metal Dealers.

Voting: Unanimous

2. The Licensing Committee agree the proposed fees, as stated, in relation to Pleasure Boats.

Voting: Unanimous

3. The Licensing Committee agree the proposed fees, as stated, in relation to Sexual Establishments

Voting: 11 in favour

               2 abstained