Agenda and minutes

Venue: Conference Room 1, Blackburn Town Hall

Items
No. Item

12.

Welcome & Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors Batan, Casey, F Hussain and Salton

13.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 99 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 30th October 2018 were submitted.

 

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 30th October were approved as a correct record

14.

Declaration of Interest pdf icon PDF 68 KB

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest

15.

Alcohol Licensing

For members to receive a short training session on Alcohol Licensing

Minutes:

Members received a training session on Alcohol Licensing. Different areas of alcohol licensing were covered such as, TENs (Temporary Event Notices), Issuing and reviewing licences, different types of responsible authorities and representations.

 

RESOLVED – That the training be noted and PowerPoint to be distributed to Members of the Committee

16.

Update on the Work of Public Protection and Environmental Health Service pdf icon PDF 78 KB

Minutes:

The Committee were updated on the Council’s Public Protection and Environmental Health Service during the period of October 2018 – December 2018.

 

During this period Animal Welfare Licensing came into force on 1st October 2018 and was designed to strengthen animal welfare, particularly around puppy sales.

 

The new regulations will:

·         Ensure that breeders show puppies alongside their mother before a sale is made.

·         Tighten regulations so that puppy sales are completed in the presence of the new owner – preventing online sales where prospective buyers have not seen the animal first.

·         Ban licensed sellers from dealing in puppies and kittens under the age of 8 weeks.

·         Regulate adverts, including on the internet, by ensuring licensed sellers of all pets include the seller’s licence number, country of origin and country of residence of the pet.

·         Introduce a new “star rating” for dog breeders, pet shops, dog and cat boarding providers and others informing potential customers of how well businesses comply with welfare standards. The star rating will dictate how often the businesses are inspected with those with better standards receiving fewer inspections than those with fewer stars

 

It was noted that 14 applications had been processed for the licence which 13 had been awarded 5 stars - the licences remain in place for 3 years.

 

Taxi Safety Operation

 

A taxi safety check was carried out on 30th November in Darwen. Six vehicles were stopped by the Police and looked over by a vehicle examiner from the Council’s Motor Vehicle Testing Station.

 

Licensing staff also looked to make sure the correct licences were in place for the vehicles and their drivers.

 

All of the vehicles were found to be in a safe condition, with just one taxi given 7 days to put minor problems right – a missing heat shield and a replacement number plate.

 

 

Gambling

 

Members were informed that the Gambling Commissions had worked with licensing authorities and local police to test compliance with the law in place to protect children from the risks gambling can pose.

 

A national series of test purchases on a sample of pubs in England found that almost 90% failed to prevent children accessing 18+ gaming machines. Staff from Public Protection at Blackburn with Darwen took part in the project and found that 7 out of the 8 pubs checked allowed children to use the slot machines.

The National figure for the current failure rate (89%) compares to an average failure rate of 15% for other age restricted products such as alcohol or tobacco.

 

 

 

Routine work carried out

 

The following table provides some of the key figures on work carried out by members of staff working in the Licensing Team from 1 October – 31 December 2018.

 

Vehicle licences processed

453

Driver licences processed

302

Licensing Act licences processed

24

Visits to new DPSs

27

Inspections of premises/vehicles carried out  

105

 

Taxis statistics

 

The Department for Transport had published its 2018 taxi & private hire statistics. The 2018 statistical analysis showed that the “total number  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

17.

PART II - THE PRESS AND PUBLIC MAY BE EXCLUDED DURING CONSIDERATION OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS

18.

Minutes of the Licensing Sub Committees

19.

General Licensing Sub Committee - 9th October 2019

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the proceedings of the Sub Committee as outlined above were approved as a correct record and signed as a correct record.

19.1

General Licensing Sub Committee - 13th November 2018

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the proceedings of the Sub Committee as outlined above were approved as a correct record and signed as a correct record.

 

20.

General Licensing Sub Committee - 11th December 2018

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the proceedings of the Sub Committee as outlined above were approved as a correct record and signed as a correct record.