MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL
COUNCIL
17 SEPTEMBER 2014
JOINT REPORT
OF THE LICENSING COMMITTEE AND LICENSING ACT 2003 COMMITTEE
Report prepared by Caroline Matthews
1. PROPOSED AMALGAMATION OF THE LICENSING COMMITTEE AND THE LICENSING ACt 2003 COMMITTEE
1.1 Introduction
1.1.1 In October 2013 the council invited the Local Government Association to conduct a peer review of the Licensing function in order to:
· Explore how licensing can more effectively support the council’s priorities;
· Review the role and effectiveness of the licensing function, to include the roles of the Cabinet Member and Licensing Committees;
· Examine the future capacity of licensing in light of anticipated future funding reductions.
1.1.2 Following
feedback from the Peer Review Team to an informal meeting of the relevant
Cabinet Member and Members from both Licensing Committees, a report was
presented to Cabinet on the 12 February 2014 that considered and agreed a list
of recommendations made by the peer review team.
1.1.3 One of
the recommendations made was to consider moving to a single committee.
1.1.4 On 4
August 2014 the Licensing Committee and the Licensing Act 2003 Committee
considered a report of the Director of Regeneration and Communities which asked
the Committees to recommend to Council the reduction of the number of
Committees dealing with licensing functions from two to one to enable a more
efficient use of member and officer resources and improved service to the
public. The Committees considered this and recommended the following to
Council.
1.2 RECOMMENDED:
1.2.1 a) That the Licensing Committee and Licensing Act 2003 Committee be combined into one functioning committee called the Licensing Committee;
b) That
the size of the new Committee be set at 12 Members to allow for cross party
representation if possible;
c) That
Council delegate all permitted licensing functions to the new Licensing
Committee; and
d) That the Constitution be amended accordingly.