Licensing Committee

28 January 2016

Is the final decision on the recommendations in this report to be made at this meeting?

Yes

 

Sexual Entertainment Venues - Licence Fees 2016/2017

 

Final Decision-Maker

Licensing Committee

Lead Director

John Littlemore, Head of Housing and Community Services

Lead Officer/Report Author

Claire Perry, Licensing Partnership Manager

Classification

Non-exempt

Wards affected

All

 

 

This report makes the following recommendations to the final decision-maker:

1.    That the Licensing Committee approve the fee levels as set out in paragraph 2.4 of the report for implementation on 1 April 2016.

 

 

This report relates to the following Five Year Plan Key Objectives:

·         Great Place

It is proposed to set fees which enable the authority to be self-financing with respect to this service.

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Licensing Committee

28 January 2016



Sexual Entertainment Venues -  Licence Fees 2016/2017

 

 

1.         PURPOSE OF REPORT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

1.1      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.

 

1.2      A fees model, similar to the one used to first set the Gambling Act fees in 2007, was used to determine the proposed fees for 2016/2017. 

 

 

 

2.         INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

 

2.1      The fees have been calculated by examining the time it takes to carry out the various tasks in processing the application and who in the authority is likely to carry them out. The hourly rates of staff are fed in to a spreadsheet (original produced by LACORS to calculate the Gambling Act fees) to calculate costs for each type of activity.

 

2.2      The type of tasks involved in Sexual Entertainment Venue premises application include: assistance to applicant, checking of an application upon receipt, processing the application, assessing representations for relevance, undertaking informal mediation, and undertaking site visits where necessary. Once processed, tasks then involve: determining the licence or arranging a hearing and holding a hearing, notification of the decision, preparation and issuing of the licence, updating the records/register, appeal preparation and holding an appeal hearing.

 

2.3      The costs associated with an appeal and hearings have been estimated and an estimation has been made as to the likelihood of these events occurring, which has been entered into the final calculations. The risk of appeals and hearings occurring has been based on the experience of the Licensing Partnership[JB1] .

 

Proposed Fees

 

2.4      The result of the calculations is that a fee of £4,100 is proposed to cover the cost for a new application or a renewal application. The existing fee is £4,000. The fee for an application to transfer a licence is proposed as £2,000.

 

 

3.         AVAILABLE OPTIONS

 

3.1      Members may decide to leave the fee levels as they are and not increase the fees to cover the full cost of delivering this function. This would mean there would be a shortfall in income against the budget set for the function. The shortfall would have to be covered from other areas of income within the Licensing Team.

 

3.2      Members may approve the fees as set at in paragraph 2.4.

 

3.3      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 tochallenge..

 

 

4.         PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

4.1      Members are asked to approve the proposed fees set out in paragraph 2.4 of the report.

 

 

 

 

5.        NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

5.1      The fees will be charged with respect to new applications and existing premises. Existing licensees will be notified at the time of renewal and the new fees will be displayed on the Council’s website.

 

 

 

6.        CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

 

 

Issue

Implications

Sign-off

(name of officer and date)

Impact on Corporate Priorities

No implications have been identified

[Head of Service or Manager]

Risk Management

No implications have been identified

[Head of Service or Manager]

Finance and other resources

It is necessary for the Council to deliver a balanced budget and cover the costs of providing this service.

[Section 151 Officer & Finance Team]

Staffing

No implications have been identified

[Head of Service]

Legal

 Legal implications are set out in the body of the report.

Jayne Bolas, Solicitor

Team Leader (Contentious)

 

Equality Impact Needs Assessment

No implications have been identified

[Policy & Information Manager]

Environmental/Sustainable Development

No implications have been identified

[Head of Service or Manager]

Community Safety

No implications have been identified

[Head of Service or Manager]

Human Rights Act

No implications have been identified

[Head of Service or Manager]

Procurement

No implications have been identified

[Head of Service & Section 151 Officer]

 

7.         REPORT APPENDICES

 

The following documents are to be published with this report and form part of the report:

None[JB2] 

 

 

 

8.         BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

None

 


 [JB1]I note you do not want to include an appendix of the detail but I wonder if this should be in as part II for Members but not the public. Exemption could be 3. relating to financial or business affairs of any particular person,(including the authority holding the information).

 [JB2]See comment above