Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED – That the Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee held on 30 November 2018 be APPROVED as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no urgent items.

There were no declarations made.

Mark Trillo (Executive Director & Monitoring Officer) introduced the report to members for a new Polling Station to be adopted in the Cheadle North East Ward.

Following the sale of the Cheadle Council Offices, the Polling Station had been moved to the Hammersley Hayes Community House. However this had recently been closed and so the proposal was to adopt the Daisy Bank House Business Centre, Leek Road, Cheadle on a permanent basis. Whilst the premises was just outside the Cheadle North East Ward, it was felt that there was no alternative as there were no suitable premises within the Ward boundary.

Staff at Daisy Bank House had been asked to park on the Tape Street car park for the day of the election in order to free up as much of the parking at the venue as possible. Members noted that the amount of car parking available at the premises was limited and had slight concerns on the topic, but were equally aware that there were no alternative premises available.

RESOLVED – That, as a result of the closure of Hammersley Hayes Community House, the Council would use Daisy Bank Business Centre as Polling Station for Cheadle North East Ward.

Shortly before the meeting, the Council was notified that the usual Polling Station for the Leek North Ward (St. John’s Church, Belle Vue, Leek) was not available for the forthcoming election. An alternative location had been identified, inspected and found to be suitable (The Old Grammar School, Clerk Bank, Leek).  

It was noted that this was an improvement, as the usual Polling Station was, in fact, out of the Ward, whereas the alternative was within the Ward boundary.

RESOLVED – That The Old Grammar School, Clerk Bank, Leek was to be used as Polling Station for the Leek North Ward for the forthcoming election.

Councillor Johnson confirmed that, as an owner of a Livery, he did not have an interest to declare in respect of this item.

Alicia Patterson – Head of Environmental Health – introduced the report to members by way of an update on the new Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018.

The new regulations provided for local authorities to be the licensing authorities to licence persons involved in England in selling animals as pets, providing or arranging boarding for cats or dogs, hiring out horses, breeding dogs and keeping or training animals for exhibition. An Animal Establishment Licence would have to be applied for from their Local Authority. A person carrying on any of the above activities without a licence commits an offence punishable by imprisonment for up to 6 months and/or a fine.

The regulations also allowed flexibility on the regularity of inspections, enabling local authorities to concentrate on licensees who were more likely to breach licence conditions.

Members were supportive of each aspect of the regulations, though queried why horse liveries were not included. Alicia confirmed that liveries were currently dealt with under Health & Safety legislation and that the Council would work with the RSPCA if a case justified it. It was also possible that liveries may be brought under this legislation at a later date.

RESOLVED – That the report be NOTED.

The Committee received a report on Licensing Service enforcement actions for the period October 2018 to February 2019. The details were as follows:-

Attention was being focussed on issues related to modern-day slavery, with officers encountering living arrangements in inappropriate circumstances.

RESOLVED – That the report be NOTED.

There were no questions or issues raised.