Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllrs McNamara and Reid.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 22 October 2013.

RESOLVED

·        That the minutes of the meeting on 22 October be approved and signed by the Chair.

To review the standard licensing conditions for pet shops.

The Committee considered a report updating on the Local Government Association review of model conditions imposed under the terms of licences issued under the Pet Animals Act 1951 on proprietors of pet shops and other pet vendors. The conditions set out basic minimum standards considered necessary to ensure the health, safety and welfare of animals in pet shops.

Clarification was provided that there were currently only two establishments within the borough requiring licensing under this regime and that it was not considered that the imposition of the new model conditions would be onerous or costly on pet vendors or the Council in terms of enforcement. It was advised that the Council had a contract with City of London Corporation’s veterinary services to undertake animal welfare functions within the borough.

RESOLVED

·        That the model conditions for Pet Vending Licensing 2003 as set out within appendix A of the report be adopted.  

To consider the new Code of Practice.

The Committee considered a report advising on the release of a new mandatory Code of Practice to ban the sale of alcohol below the cost of duty plus VAT following a consultation undertaken as part of the government’s Alcohol Strategy. The guidance would apply to all licensed premises with a view to reducing excessive alcohol consumption and its associated impact on alcohol related crime and health harms. It was explained however that the provisions of the Code would primarily relate to the sale of alcohol at heavily discounted prices.

In response to a question, it was confirmed that there would be an impact on the Council with regards to visiting licensed premises to raise awareness of the new Code and subsequent potential enforcement costs.

RESOLVED

·        That the report be noted.

To consider a response to a government consultation on fee setting.

The Committee considered a report setting out details of a consultation currently underway on proposals to allow licensing authorities to set their own fees instead of adhering to current national setting arrangements. The new proposal remained centred on a non domestic rateable value band structure, with authorities gaining the power to set fees within each band. The proposal for a cap to be added to each fee category was noted with the consequence that future fee income could potentially be less than that received under current national arrangements. Officers advised that the basis of fee setting would remain cost recovery although concern already existed over the current income generation of the service, with recent CIPFA return figures showing an estimated shortfall of around £200k for the service. A time audit was currently being undertaken to assess officer time taken for enforcement to feed into fee setting discussions. The Committee provided a steer that the resourcing of the licensing team needed to be reviewed going forward, particularly around enforcement, to ensure ongoing sustainability.

It was agreed that the proposed draft Council response to the consultation would be circulated to the Committee for comment. 

RESOLVED

·        That the report be noted.

To consider a scheme to allow casual street trading in defined areas of Wood Green town centre.

The Committee considered a report updating on a new proposed approach to street trading on Wood Green High Road linked to the Transport for London major scheme approved to enhance the public realm and street scene of the town centre. Part of the improvement work would include the installation of infrastructure for street trading at various defined locations off the High Road, primarily Lymington Avenue. At present, a number of traditional street trading pitches were allocated to traders on a number of side roads off the High Road but demand remained to extend provision. New infrastructure would allow for casual/temporary trading as opposed to permanent pitches. Confirmation was provided that this approach could potentially be extended across the borough although an assessment would be required on a site by site basis.   

RESOLVED

·        That the report be noted and that a report would be submitted to a future Regulatory Committee with proposed fees for the pitches.

To update on Development Management and Building Control performance and progress implementing the Development Management Improvement Plan

The Committee considered a report updating on Development Management (DM) and Building Control performance and progress with the implementation of the Development Management Improvement Plan since the last meeting. A short presentation was given on the key points.

It was advised that all three corporate indicators covering the speed of decision making for major, minor and ‘other’ planning applications were on track to be met or exceeded. The Council’s performance would meet or exceed the national average for all types of applications.

An update was provided on improvements in train under the DM Improvement Plan included the review of key processes and procedures, improvements to ICT arrangements, benchmarking with other authorities and the review of Committee protocols.

An annual customer satisfaction survey had been undertaken for the service, with results showing a 89% applicants satisfaction level and 56% satisfaction for enforcement complainants. These results would feed into the ongoing Environment and Housing Scrutiny Panel workstream looking at community engagement with planning services as well as the internal review of the service’s statutory and non-statutory communications.

A key focus going forward would be to speed up the validation process for applications, to improve integration between Building Control and DM such as attendance at pre-application meetings and learning lessons from appeal decisions. ICT upgrades in the spring were anticipated to allow the functionality for planning fee payments to be taken online.

In response to a question, confirmation was provided that the scheme of delegation would be revisited as part of the wider review of the Constitution and the planning protocol in the summer.

The Committee requested that the summary report for the completed internal audit of procedures relating to the award of certificates of lawfulness be included as an agenda item at the next Committee meeting.

Members identified a number of recent issues regarding the DM consultation database and appropriate notification being sent out to local residents regarding applications. The importance was emphasised of ensuring the data was kept up to date. Officers acknowledged that there had been issues with the system and that work was underway to improve this.

The Committee requested the future opportunity to look at wider trends and drivers impacting on DM to facilitate an understanding of the picture across the whole borough such as permitted development levels etc. Officers advised that Members would need to identify the trends and KPIs that they wished to monitor although it was caveated that this would be conditional on improvements to the ICT system to allow the flagging up of outcomes. It was noted that the Annual Monitoring Report would track broad trends. As a way forward, it was agreed that officers would identify a list of potential indicators that could be monitored going forward for consideration by the Committee.

The Committee praised the service performance improvements made and agreed the importance of promoting these, as well as other changes such as Article 4 Directions, to borough residents. The Chair agreed to look into the potential of including a short article  ...  view the full minutes text for item 123.

To update on service delivery performance between 1 April to 31 December 2013.

The Committee considered an update report setting out Planning Enforcement’s progress in maintaining service delivery in the first three quarters of 2013/14. A continuous rise in caseloads had been observed, with a 15% increase on last year although outcomes had remained broadly similar. A tracker system had been set up to monitor the 6-9 month backlog of cases that had built up.

The Committee asked for an update on enforcement issues on South Tottenham industrial estates. Officers advised that this was a complex issue and as such a cross borough project team was being established to lead and to determine the outcomes sought. An update report would be submitted to the Committee in due course.

Officers advised that a workshop session for Members was being held on 1 April to start discussions on future DM enforcement priorities and expediency. 

RESOLVED

·        That the update be noted.

To be confirmed with approval of the annual meeting calendar.

The first meeting of the new municipal year would be on 12 June.