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Licensing

10th November 2022

 

Licence Fees and Charges 2023/2024

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Licensing Committee

10th November 2022

Executive/Lead Member on the Executive for (Portfolio Name) (select correct option)

N/A

 

 

Will this be a Key Decision?

No

Urgency

Not Applicable

Final Decision-Maker

Licensing Committee

Lead Head of Service

John Littlemore, Head of Housing and Community Services

Lead Officer and Report Author

Lorraine Neale

Classification

Public

Wards affected

All

 

Executive Summary

The authority is required to review the fees set for the administration of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847, Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, The Gambling Act 2005 and The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. This ensures the Council complies with its statutory duty and the licensing of these regimes is self-financing, in accordance with the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy.  

.

Purpose of Report

To seek Member approval of the licence fees and charges for the financial year 2022/23 where the Council has discretion over the level of fee as set out at 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 2.11, 2.13, 2.14 and 2.15 of the report for implementation on 1 April 2023.

 

 

This report makes the following recommendations to the Committee

 

1.   That the fee levels as set out at 2.7, 2.9, 2.11, 2.13, 2.14 and 2.15 of the report for implementation on 1 April 2023, be approved; and

2.   That the fee level as set out at 2.6 of the report for implementation on 1 April 2023 be approved, with any consultation responses received to be presented to the committee for consideration before that fees implementation

 

 

 

Licence Fees and Charges 2023/2024

 

 

1.       CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

 

Issue

Implications

Sign-off

Impact on Corporate Priorities

The four Strategic Plan objectives are:

 

·         Embracing Growth and Enabling Infrastructure

·         Safe, Clean and Green

·         Homes and Communities

·         A Thriving Place

·         We do not expect the recommendations will by themselves materially affect achievement of corporate priorities. 

Senior Licensing Officer

Cross Cutting Objectives

The four cross-cutting objectives are:

 

·         Heritage is Respected

·         Health Inequalities are Addressed and Reduced

·         Deprivation and Social Mobility is Improved

·         Biodiversity and Environmental Sustainability is respected

 

The report recommendations do not materially impact on the achievement of the cross-cutting objectives

Senior Licensing Officer

Risk Management

 Refer to paragraph 5.1 and 5.2 of the report’

 

Senior Licensing Officer

Financial

·         The proposals set out in the recommendation are all within already approved budgetary headings and so need no new funding for implementation.

·          

Senior Licensing Officer

Staffing

·         We will deliver the recommendations with our current staffing.

·          

Senior Licensing Officer

Legal

·         Should parts of industry believe the Authority’s fees are at a level which is greater than the costs of the statutory functions then it would be open to them to undertake judicial review proceedings. Should this arise, the authority would need to evidence how it arrived at the fee levels to demonstrate that they have been calculated on a cost recovery basis only.

Legal Team

Information Governance

·         The recommendations do not impact personal information (as defined in UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018) the Council Processes.

Senior Licensing Officer

Equalities


The recommendations do not propose a change in service therefore will not require an equalities impact assessment

Equalities & Communities Officer

Public Health

 

 

·         We recognise that the recommendations will not negatively impact on population health or that of individuals.

·          

Senior Licensing Officer

Crime and Disorder

There is no impact on crime and disorder in accepting the recommendations of the report

 

Senior Licensing Officer

Procurement

Not applicable

Senior Licensing Officer

Biodiversity and Climate Change

·         The implications of this report on biodiversity and climate change have been considered and are incentives for electric vehicles should be considered as part of the fees structure to encourage EV usage by the taxi trade.

Biodiversity and Climate Change Manager

 

 

2.      INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

 

2.1 The Council’s fees and charges are reviewed on an annual basis as part of the budget setting process. The individual licence, consents and permits fees are calculated to recover the cost of issuing the licence, consent or permit and ensuring compliance with the requirements of the relevant legislation. There are other Licences issued by the Licensing Department where the fees are set by statute and are fixed or are within parameters and these cannot be changed, these are Licensing Act 2003 fees and some Gambling fees such as Lotteries and permits.

 

2.2 The fees that the Council can set were subject to a robust review in 2016 where each licence type was examined and calculated by examining the time it takes to carry out the various tasks in processing each type of application and who in the authority was likely to carry each action out. The hourly rates of staff were fed into a spreadsheet (originally produced by LACORS) to calculate costs for each type of activity.

 

2.3 There has been no significant change in the time taken or the various tasks required to produce the majority of licenses, consents or permits since 2016. The figures for the last 3 financial years for Taxi Licensing show an income deficit of £6252 for 2019 – 2020 which is acceptable, an Income deficit of £57071 for 2020 – 2021 which was deemed an exceptional year and we were not obliged to recover the loss and an income deficit of £4600 for 2021 -2022 which is acceptable.

 

        For the current financial for the period April 2022 – September 2022 there is currently a slight surplus of £600, it was anticipated that there would be an increase in income once the trade began to recover and new drivers started to enter the industry.

 

       

        Based on current information especially for Taxis we know that in the years prior to the pandemic and up to the financial year 2019 – 2020 it was demonstrated that the service recovered its costs and did not make a surplus, it appears that the service is on course to recover it’s cost for 2022 -2023. Usually it is recommended that we apply the 2% inflationary increase to all fees (in line with this Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020/21 – 2025/26 which allows consideration of overall inflation assumptions (the RPI for 2023 is higher at 3.1%). However the partnership costs for 2023/24 for Maidstone are set to increase by 5% and that is reflected in the majority of the fees, however some fees such as driver testing,  unmet demand survey,  taxi monitor maintenance and street trading do not have any partnership input so have been increased by 2% (all fees may have been rounded up or down).

 

2.4   Members are asked to consider the proposals for increases to the fees and

      charges for which this Committee is responsible for reviewing at a local level.

 

Proposed Fees

 

Taxis and Private Hire Fees and Charges

 

There is a Legal Requirement to publish a Public Notice to advertise proposed variations to Hackney Carriage and Private Hire licence fees

2.5   Officers from the licensing department will email those Hackney Carriage    Proprietors, Private Hire Operators and Drivers where we have their email addresses after this Licensing Committee meeting to give them the opportunity to make representation. A Notice will also be placed in a local paper and will be available on the Council’s website.

2.6   Proposed Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing fees from 1 April 2023 are:

 

Current Fees

Proposed Fees

Knowledge test

£35 per test

£36

EQUO online test

£66

£67

Hackney Carriage Driver and Dual (Hackney & Private Hire) Driver Licence

 

On initial application

£ 337.50 for three years

(this includes £24 towards the Demand Survey & £8.50 for maintenance of TV monitor)

                                             £140.50 for one year

£ 353 for three years

(this includes £24.50 towards the Demand Survey & £8.50 for maintenance of TV monitor)

 

£145 for one year

 

Disclosure Barring Service search fee

£38 every one or three years depending on licence (or £13 per year if they sign up to the online service)

£38 every one or three years depending on licence (or £13 per year if they sign up to the online service)

Total (including DBS fee)

£377.50 for three years

£180.50 for one year

£390 for three years

£183 for one year

On renewal

£329 for three years

(this includes £24 towards the Demand Survey & £8.50 for maintenance of TV monitor)

                                               £122 for one year (due to age or medical)

£344 for three years

(this includes £24.50 towards the Demand Survey & £8.50 for maintenance of TV monitor)

                                               £127 for one year (due to age or medical)

Disclosure Barring Service search fee

£38 every one or three years depending on licence (or £13 per year if they sign up to the online service)

£38 every one or three years depending on licence (or £13 per year if they sign up to the online service)

Total (including DBS fee)

£367 for three years

£160 for one year

£382 for three years

£165 for one year

Private Hire Driver Licence

 

On initial application

£258 for three years

£155 for one year

£271 for three years

£163 for one year

Disclosure Barring Service search fee

£38 every one or three years depending on licence (or £13 per year if they sign up to the online service)

£38 every one or three years depending on licence (or £13 per year if they sign up to the online service)

Total (including DBS fee)

£296 for three years

£193 for one year

£309 for three years

£201 for one year

On renewal

£253 for three years

£136 for one year (due to age or medical)

£266 for three years

£143 for one year (due to age or medical)

Disclosure Barring Service search fee

£38 every one or three years depending on licence (or £13 per year if they sign up to the online service)

£38 every one or three years depending on licence (or £13 per year if they sign up to the online service)

Total (including DBS fee)

£291 for three years

£174 for one year

£304 for three years

£181 for one year

Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence

 

New & Renewal

£312.50 for one year

(this includes £24.00 towards the Demand Survey & £8.50 for maintenance of TV monitor)

 

£327 for one year

(this includes £24.50 towards the Demand Survey & £8.50 for maintenance of TV monitor)

Private Hire Vehicle Licence

 

New & Renewal

 

£288 for one year

£302 for one year

Private Hire Operator Licence

 

5 year licence – Initial application

£526 for five years

£552 for five years

5 year licence - Renewal

£440 for five years

£462 for five years

3 year licence – Initial application

£368 for three years

£386 for three years

3 year licence - Renewal

£298 for three years

£313 for three years

1 year licence – Initial application

£212 for one year

£223 for one year

1 year licence - Renewal

£140 for one year

£147 for one year

Other Costs

 

Change of ownership of licensed vehicle

£75.50

£79

Replace external vehicle plate

£25

£26

Replace driver badge

£11.50

£12

Replace internal plate holder

£1.75

£2

Copy of existing paper licence

£12.50

£13

Change of address details for a replacement licence

£12.50

£13

Change of name for a vehicle or operator licence

£12.50

£13

Change of name and address for a driver badge

£23

£24

Vehicle exemption certificate or general administration fee which will include any additional DBS checks required for drivers not signed up to the DBS online checking service.

£49

£51

 

Gambling Act 2005

2.7The maximum levels have been included in the table in brackets for comparison purposes. The previous year’s fees are printed in italics for your information. The proposed fees are in bold and those cells that are shaded in the body of the table are where we have reached the maximum fee level that may be set.

 

* Fees not adjusted as they are no Casinos in Maidstone so not applicable

Premises Type

New Application

Annual Fee

 

£

£

Existing Casinos

n/a

n/a

*New Small Casino

*8000

(8,000)

8000

*4759

(5000)

4759

*New Large Casino

*9857

(10,000)

9857

*7694

(10000)

7694

Bingo Club

3258

(3500)

3103

924

(1000)

880

Betting Premises (excluding Tracks)

3000

(3000)

3000

600

(600)

600

Tracks

1997

(2500)

1902

924

(1000)

880

Family Entertainment Centres

1997

(2000)

1902

746

(750)

711

Adult Gaming Centre

1997

(2000)

1902

750

(750)

750

Temporary Use Notice

262

(500)

250

N/A

 

Application  to Vary

Application   to Transfer

Application for  Re-Instatement

Application for Provisional Statement

Licence Application (provisional Statement holders)

Copy Licence

Notification of Change

 

£

£

£

£

£

£

£

Existing Casinos

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a)

n/a)

New Small  Casino *

4000

(4000)

4000

1797 (1800)

1761

1797

(1800)

1761

8000

(8000)

8000

3000

(3000)

2967

13

(25)

13

30

(50)

29

New Large Casino *

4677

(5000)

4585

2150

(2150)

2150

2150

(2150)

2150

9842

(10000)

9649

4499

(5000)

4411

13

(25)

13

30

(50)

29

Bingo Club

1750

(1750)

1750

1200 (1200)

1200

473

(1200)

451

2596

(3500)

2473

1200 (1200)

1200

14

(25)

13.5

32

(50)

30.5

Betting Premises (excluding tracks)

1500 (1500)

1500

1200 (1200)

1200

450

(1200)

429

2031

(3000)

1935

1200 (1200)

1200

14

(25)

13.5

32

(50)

30.5

Tracks

1250 (1250)

1250

950

 (950)

950

450

(1200)

429

2222

(2500)

2116.5

950

 (950)

950

14

(25)

13.5

32

(50)

30.5

Family Entertainment Centres

1000

(1000)

1000

950

 (950)

950

 

456

 (950)

434.5

2026

(2000)

1930

 

950

 (950)

950

14

(25)

13.5

32

(50)

30.5

Adult Gaming Centre

 

1000

(1000)

1000

1200

(1200)

1200

456

 (950)

434.5

2026

(2000)

1930

 

1200

(1200)

1200

14

(25)

13.5

32

(50)

30.5

Temporary Use Notice

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

14

(25)

13.5

32

(50)

30.5

 

Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013

2.8 In setting a fee, the authority must have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State, the proposed fees were originally calculated using that Guidance and the proposed fees raised by the 5% inflation increase.

 

2.9

 

 

Current Fee

 

Proposed Fee

Maidstone Borough Council

 

 

Site licence – grant

 

£500

£525

Site licence – renewal

 

£424

£445

Collector’s licence – grant or renewal

£305

£320

Minor administrative change to licence

£33

£35

Variation - change of site manager

£178.50

£187

Variation from collector to site licence

217

228

Variation from site to collector licence

£142

£149

 

 

Sexual Entertainment Venue fees

2.10 The authority is required to review the fees set for the administration of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982. This ensures the Council complies with its statutory duty and that the licensing of Sexual Entertainment Venue premises is self-financing, in accordance with the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan

2.11

 

 Current Fee

 

Proposed Fee

Maidstone Borough Council

 

 

New Licence Application

 

£4655.50

£4888

Renewal Licence Application

 

£4655.50

£4888

Transfer of Licence

 

£2273.50

£2387

 

 

Boats and Boatmen

2.12 The authority is required to review the fees set for the administration of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1907 and Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980. This ensures the Council complies with its statutory duty and that the licensing of Boats and Boatmen is self-financing, in accordance with the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan

2.13

 

 Current Fee

 

Proposed Fee

Maidstone Borough Council

 

 

Pleasure Boats

(New & Renewal)

£137

£144

Row Boats

(New & Renewal)

£28

£29

Boatmen

(New & Renewal)

£16.50

£17

 

Street Trading

 

2.14 The authority is required to review the fees set for the administration of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982. This ensures the Council complies with its statutory duty and that the authorisation of Street Trading is self-financing, in accordance with the Council’s Medium Term

 

Current  Fee

Proposed Fee

Maidstone Borough Council

 

 

Consultation application fee (applies to full year applications only)

£153

£156

Up to 12 trading days

New only (on grant)

£33

£34

Full year consent

(New & Renewal) (on grant)

£260

£265

Additional assistants (checks and badges)

£51

£52

Additional change (additional products)

£51

£52

Copy/replacement Licence

£12.50

£13

Copy/replacement Badge

£12.50

£13

 

 

2.15 Licensing Act 2003 & Gambling Act 2005

  PRE-APPLICATION ADVICE

 

 

Current

2022/2023

Proposed

2023/2024

Small Application- Up to one hour of advice regarding small licence applications,

Excludes events – see below

 

£68

 

£71

Medium Application- Up to 2 hours advice for medium size applications including a site visit

Excludes event – see below

 

£144

 

£151

Large Application- Up to 4 hours advice for large applications including multiple (if necessary) site visits

Excludes events – see below

 

£268

 

£281

Events up to 1000 capacity:

Category A - up to 3 hours advice for extra-large public events includes the cost of specialist officers and site visits

 

 

£368

 

£386

Events between 1001 and up to 1999 capacity - Category B – up to 7 hours advice for extra-large public events includes the cost of specialist officers and site visits

 

 

£518

 

£544

Events between 2000 and up to 4999 capacity – Category C – up to up to 14 hours advice for extra-large public events includes the cost of specialist officers and site visits

 

 

£718

 

£754

Extra-large events - 5000 people or more - Category D - up to 21 hours advice for extra-large public events includes the cost of specialist officers and site visits

 

 

£1068

 

£1121

 

 

 

 

3.   AVAILABLE OPTIONS

 

 

3.1     Option 1 - Members approve the inflationary increase fees as set at 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 2.11, 2.13, 2.14 and 2.15.

 

In accordance with legislative requirements the fees at 2.6 will be published in a local newspaper and displayed on the Councils website. If any representations are received, these will be reported to the Committee at the next available meeting for further consideration.

 

3.2     Option 2 - Members may decide to leave the fee levels as they are and not apply an inflationary increase to cover the full cost of delivering the licensing function. This would mean there would be a shortfall in income against the budget set for the function. Authorities cannot make a profit from the system and must ring-fence income from licensing fees so that any surplus or deficit is carried forward to the next year’s budget, any surplus in one area cannot be used to subsidise a shortfall in another.

 

 

3.3   Option 3 - Members may require a fee higher than the cost of delivering the service. However, the fee is statutorily required to be reasonable and case law indicates that compliance with the EU Services Directive and Regulations requires that only the cost of administering the application and monitoring

        compliance be included in the fee. If the Council were to exceed this without justification it may be subject to challenge.

 

 

 

4.        PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

4.1       Option 1 as contained within point 3.1 above, to  approve the proposed inflationary fee increases as set out at 2.6, 2.7, 2.9, 2.11, 2.13, 2.14 and 2.15 of the report to ensure that the fee income reflects the cost of providing the service.

 

 

 

 

5.       RISK

5.1    The risk is reduced by accepting preferred option 1

 

5.2    If the fees are set to high then there is a risk that we could be challenged as an Authority.

 

5.3    If the fees are set to low there is the risk we will not cover the cost of delivering the service incurring a deficit.

 

 

 

6.       CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

 

6.1     As outlined above in point 3.1 of the report, if agreed, the fees set out at 2.6 are subject to consultation and any responses from consultation will be brought to a future Licensing Committee for consideration before adopting these fees.

 

6.2     The fees set out at 2.7, 2.9, 2.11, 2.13, 2.14 and 2.15 are not subject to consultation

 

 

7.       NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

7.1        The fees will be charged with respect to new, existing and renewal applications from 1 April 2023 and published on our website.

 

 

 

8.        REPORT APPENDICES

 

  N/A

 

 

9.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

          N/A