Agenda and minutes

Members were requested to resolve that any exempt business on the agenda be considered with the press and public excluded.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         in terms of Section 50(A)(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business:- 7.1 and 7.4 to 7.8 so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the class described in paragraph 14 of Schedule 7(A) to the Act (Items 1 and 4 to 8 of Appendix B to this minute refers); and

(ii)        in terms of the Data Protection Act 1998 (Principle 1) to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business:-  6.1 to 6.8 (articles 8 to 15 of this minute refers) and 7.2 and 7.3 (Items 2 and 3 of Appendix B to this minute refers).

The Committee had before it the minutes of its previous meetings of
23 November and 7 December 2011.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve both minutes subject to amending article 18 of the minute of 23 November 2011 by replacing the name Ross with Insch in the second paragraph.

The Committee heard the Convener advise that officers were to be submitting a report to the Licensing Committee meeting on 14 April 2012 in relation to the provision and policy of taxi wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAV’s).

With this in mind, the Convener sought the Committee’s approval to defer consideration of the requests at items 6.2 to 6.8 on the agenda which relate to WAV’s until the Committee considers the aforesaid report.  She concluded by intimating that an Equalities and Human Rights Impact Assessment would be submitted with the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to defer items 6.2 to 6.8 on the agenda until the Committee considers the report relating to the provision and policy of taxi wheelchair accessible vehicles; and

(ii)        that the above report also contain details of the number of current taxi wheelchair accessible vehicles and their percentage in relation to the rest of the fleet.

With reference to Article 13 of the Minute of the previous meeting of
23 November 2011, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which provided information to enable members to reach a decision on the level of fee reduction to offer particular groups in respect of the public entertainment licensing regime.

The report had appended the definition of community, charity, voluntary and religious groups set out in the Gambling Act 2005.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)       adopts the definition of community, charity and voluntary groups as set out at paragraph 4.5; and

(b)       sets the level of fee reduction from 1 April 2012 for temporary public entertainment licenses at 75% of the full temporary fee for community, charity, voluntary and religious groups.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the recommendations contained within the report, subject to
(1) including community centres within the definition of groups relating to public entertainment licensing; and (2) applying the level of reduction (75%) to all fee types (Grant, Renewal and Temporary applications); and

(ii)        that a report reviewing the regime be brought back to the Committee in
12 months time.

The Committee had before it for consideration, the applications listed in Appendix A to this minute.

The Committee resolved:-

that all applications be determined on the basis shown in Appendix A and that all licences be subject to the Council’s normal conditions unless otherwise stated.

The Committee had before it a statement of Committee Business prepared by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services.

In relation to item 5(2) of the statement, the Committee were advised that a report on the Bridge Street Signage would be submitted to the Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure Committee (EPI) on 31 January 2012, following which a requirement to complete statutory Roads consultation procedures would be undertaken and a final report would be brought back to the EPI committee for approval.  Officers were also required to complete statutory Licensing procedures.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the information provided.

The Committee had before it a Motions List prepared by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services.

The Committee resolved:-

in light of the decision taken at Article 4 above, the Committee agreed to remove the motion relating to public entertainment licensing from the list.

EXEMPT INFORMATION

In accordance with the decision recorded under Article 1 of this minute, the following items were considered with the press and public excluded.

The Committee had before it a medical assessment of the applicant from the Council’s Occupational Health Service Provider (Serco) dated 3 November 2011.

The Committee heard from the applicant.

The Committee resolved:-

to suspend the applicant’s current Licence and any future Licence which the applicant may apply for until the results of a further medical assessment is known, and thereafter to reconsider the suspension or delegate consideration to the Informal Business Panel.

The Committee agreed to defer consideration of this request until the meeting on 17 April 2012 (Article 3 above refers).

The Committee agreed to defer consideration of this request until the meeting on 17 April 2012 (Article 3 above refers).

The Committee agreed to defer consideration of this request until the meeting on 17 April 2012 (Article 3 above refers).

The Committee agreed to defer consideration of this request until the meeting on 17 April 2012 (Article 3 above refers).

The Committee agreed to defer consideration of this request until the meeting on 17 April 2012 (Article 3 above refers).

The Committee agreed to defer consideration of this request until the meeting on 17 April 2012 (Article 3 above refers).

The Committee agreed to defer consideration of this request until the meeting on 17 April 2012 (Article 3 above refers).

The Committee had before it, for its consideration, the applications listed in Appendix B to this minute.

The Committee resolved:-

that all applications be determined on the basis shown in Appendix B and that all licences be subject to the Council’s normal conditions unless otherwise stated.

- COUNCILLOR KIRSTY WEST, Convener.

APPENDIX A

1.         APPLICATION FOR THE GRANT OF A MARKET OPERATOR’S LICENCE

Application Ref No.  4/001

Applicant – Continental Market Limited

Sites – Union Terrace, Aberdeen

Dates/Times –  Various dates in 2012 to 2014, 09:00 to 18.00

The Committee had before it a letter of objection and heard from the objector in its support.

The Committee then heard from the applicant’s representative Mr Ali Yaich in support of the application.

Councillor Boulton, seconded by Councillor Donnelly moved:-

“that the application be granted.”

Councillor Cormie, seconded by Councillor Hunter moved as an amendment:-

“that the application be refused in terms of Paragraph 5(3)(d) of Schedule 1 to the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (there is other good reason for refusing the application) on the grounds that there is already a contract in effect for the operation of a Continental Market in the City Centre and further markets would be detrimental to local businesses.”

On a division, there voted:- for the motion (8) – the Convener and Councillors Boulton, Collie, Donnelly, Leslie, Noble, Robertson and Townson; for the amendment (4)  Councillors Allan, Cormie, Hunter and MacGregor.

The Committee resolved:-

to adopt the motion and grant the application.

2.         APPLICATION FOR THE RENEWAL OF A STREET TRADER (HOT FOOD) LICENCE

Application Ref No.  4/002

Sites –                (1) St Machar Road, where double yellow lines end on right side when entering St Machar Road

(2) Ardarroch Road, 75 metres north of Pittodrie Street

(3) Beach Esplanade, east side 101 metres south of Wellington Street

Dates/Times –  (1) Monday to Saturday, 07:00 to 15:00

(2) Football match days only, 07:00 to 22:00

(3) Monday to Sunday, 08:00 to 20:00

The Committee were advised that the application had been withdrawn.

3.         APPLICATION FOR THE RENEWAL OF A STREET TRADER (ICE CREAM) LICENCE

Application Ref No.  4/003

Sites – Zones 1 and 2

Dates/Times – Monday to Sunday, 10:30 to 22:30

The Committee were reminded of the recent changes to the standard conditions applicable to Street Trader’s Licences and in particular the addition of the following condition:  “subject to the explicit consent in writing from the Licensing Authority, no street trader shall engage in the hawking, selling or offering or exposing for sale any type of food and/or drinks within a four hundred (400) metres radius of a secondary school at any time.  Without prejudice to any statutory rights that the licence holder may have, the Council shall be the ultimate arbiter in determining what may constitute the outer boundary of a school for this purpose”.

The Committee agreed to consider a letter prepared by the applicant Mr Michael Cordiner and then heard from him in support of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.