Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors McLoughlin and Springett.

There were no Substitute Members.

There were no Visiting Members.

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

There were no disclosures of lobbying.

RESOLVED: That all items on the agenda be taken in public as proposed.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Meeting held on 28 January 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed.

Claire Perry, Licensing Partnership Manager, presented a proposal to extend the licensing partnership to include the London Borough (LB) of Bexley.

It was explained that the LB of Bexley had been researching the feasibility of outsourcing its regulatory and associated services, and had decided that the Licensing function could be considered separately from the other regulatory services. Officers from LB of Bexley and Maidstone BC had worked together to formulate the proposal attached as appendix A to the report.

In response to questions Mrs Perry advised that:

·  The LB of Bexley was a unitary authority. If it were to join the Licensing Partnership this would require the team to take on additional licence types such as regulated stands, fireworks and special treatments. However the LB of Bexley did not have responsibility for taxis as this came under the remit of Transport for London.

·  The Licensing Partnership would benefit from sharing knowledge and use of documentation and paperwork.

·  The teams within the Licensing Partnership would be closely monitored to pre-empt potential issues occurring. An additional administration Officer would be added to the team in the first year, and there was opportunity to pull in additional temporary resources to respond to increases in workload.

During discussion the Head of Housing and Community Services confirmed that:

·  The final decision on behalf of Maidstone BC sat with Communities, Housing and Environment Committee as the decision maker for strategic and policy matters.

·  Each Partnership authority was considered equal as each had an equal vote and say regardless of the financial contribution percentage made to the Partnership. This relationship was outlined in the Licensing Partnership agreement.

RESOLVED: That the Communities, Housing and Environment Committee be recommended to approve the enlargement of the Licensing Partnership to include the London Borough of Bexley’s Licensing Team functions as a fourth and equal partner.

6.30 p.m. to 7.04 p.m.