The Head of the Regulatory Services and Community Safety has submitted a report to seek agreement of the licence fees for 2023/24 where the Council has discretion over the level of fee.

Recommendations: That the General Purposes Licensing Committee resolves to:

1.    Agree the licence fees and charges for 2023/24 as set out in Appendix 1 and recommend them to Council.

The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety had submitted a report to seek agreement of the licence fees for 2023/24 where the Council has discretion over the level of fee charged.

The Business Regulation Team Manager introduced the report. It was proposed that a minor increase to the current fees and charges was made in 2023/24 in order to cover the Licensing Authority's costs due to inflationary pressures.

In relation to the Pavement Licence provisions set by the Business and Planning Act 2020, the Business Regulatory Team Manager advised that the mandatory annual fee of £100 had been extended twice and currently run until September 2023. It was therefore proposed that fees for a Street Cafe Licence be amended from a single charge of £100 to reflect the number of tables and chairs applied for, in the event that the Pavement Licence provisions were not extended beyond September 2023.

In response to questions relating to a percentage differential on the proposed charge increases, it was confirmed that city centre and late night traders were also required under the Licensing Act 2003 to hold a premises licence covering the sale of hot food and drinks between the hours of 11pm and 5am on top of the proposed miscellaneous licensing charges and that the fees imposed by these two departments were taken into consideration.

Following discussions, the Committee requested further information relating to the parameters and conditions surrounding the miscellaneous licensing function be brought forward at a future meeting.

The Committee resolved to:

1.    Agree the licence fees and charges for 2023/24 as set out in Appendix 1 and recommend them to Council.