The report asked that Members agree the proposed budget and Schedule of fees and charges for 2016/17 in respect of the general licensing functions other than Hackney Carriage and Private Hire and any statutory or centrally set fees.

A motion was MOVED by Councillor McCheyne and SECONDED by Councillor Trump to agree the recommendation in the report.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY to:

1.         That the schedule of fees and charges for all non statutory fees as attached at appendix A be agreed and to take effect on and from 1 April 2016.

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION:

As above stated, the fees should be set individually for each account and cross over between each is not permitted i.e. a surplus in one is not permitted to offset a deficit in another. Generally, where a fee is discretionary it is required to be ‘reasonable’. This means that the Council is not permitted to make a profit and therefore that the fee should aim to achieve full cost recovery subject to the inclusion only of the element of cost permitted by legislation.

5.2      The licensing team record their time on a daily basis in order to feed information into the budget setting process as accurately as possible. Traditionally, this has been done in respect of the Taxi Trading Accounts where the complexity of the legislation requires that these are calculated in a specific and very transparent manner. The same statistics have been used to calculate the cost of providing each licensing function and therefore the most appropriate fee, where this can be set or to accurately record any surplus or deficit where the fee is statutory.

5.3      In all cases further streamlining of processes within the licensing department and cost reductions brought about by efficiencies within the council as a whole e.g. the Town Hall project are expected to make a long term positive impact on the cost of running each function.

5.4      The proposed fees and charges and/or the surplus or deficit on the account along with a summary of the reasoning behind the proposals are highlighted separately below:

                        All calculations are reproduced in appendices B and C.

            5.4.1   Licensing Act 2003: - All Fees are Statutory

            The licensing Act 2003 (LA2003) function accounts for 39.09% of the        overall licensing function/resource. The overall cost of the LA2003 function    as at the close of the 2014/15 accounts is £137,423 as compared to an         income of £78,753. This means that a deficit is carried forward to 2016/17 of     £58,670.

            However, these fees are set under Central Government regulations            and have remained unchanged since implementation of the Licensing            Act in November 2005. In view of this there is no scope to set these fees at present, although the possibility of locally set fees has not been totally discounted by Government, which means that by continuing to calculate the year on year cost of this service, the Council will be better placed to set the most accurate and appropriate fee should this become possible at a later date.

5.4.2   Gambling Act 2005 – Fee set at discretion up to a statutory          maximum

            The Gambling function accounts for 6.68% of the overall work of the team and for the year 2014/15, the total costs of administering this function were £23,353. With an income of £10,275 from the gambling account for the same year, this means that gambling incurred a loss of £13,078.

Whilst the fee is subject to a statutory maximum with regard to premises applications, this is currently only set at 75% of the maximum figure. The proposal is to increase the fees up to the maximum permissible fee in order to recoup some of the deficit. This is unlikely to fully recover the total deficit due to the small number of applications likely to be received. There is no scope to increase any further although it is hoped that costs may reduce for reasons as highlighted in paragraph 5.3. 

            5.4.3   Street Trading – Discretionary

            Street Trading incorporates the Market, individual stalls, the lighting up      Brentwood event and Pavement Cafes. This work amounts to 7.22% of             the licensing function at a cost of £26,479 as at the close of business for 2014/15. The income from this is £23,374 leaving a current deficit of         just over £3,000 showing on the account.

            The numbers of licences issued are relatively small and the calculation is somewhat complex given that some licences are issued on a daily          rate, some weekly and others annually. The increase in fees has therefore been calculated to reflect the work that is involved in each case and is aimed at achieving full cost recovery by the end of 2016/17 and gradually reducing the year on year deficit from then on.

                                    One area that has traditionally been calculated separate is the independent fruit stall. This is because it has been trading for many years, has made a positive contribution to the High Street area of Brentwood and does not require a great deal of supervision.  The fee has been set at £280PA for the last two years. It is proposed on this occasion that it be raised to £350PA, which covers the costs associated with the grant of this particular licence. This increase has been discussed with the stall holder and he is in full agreement with the proposal. 

            5.4.4   Scrap Metal – Discretionary

                        Scrap Metal only accounts for 1.08% of the licensing function, a cost of £4,016 as at close of accounts for 2014/15. Income for the same period amounted to £2,170, which means a loss on the account of £1,846.

                        Costs for next year are likely to be similar as there is an exercise planned to visit a number of premises throughout the Borough in order to assess whether a licence is required. This may result in an increase in income as these compliance checks may identify traders who are yet to licence under this relatively new legislation. In addition the streamlining as identified in paragraph 5.3 may identify some efficiency savings.

                        The current increase is proposed from £365 to £495 for a 3 year site licence and from £180 to £280 for a 3 year collector’s licence. The initial fee was set as a best estimate when the legislation was first introduced in 2013 and it was agreed at that time that a full review of fees would follow once more accurate cost figures had been assessed.

            5.4.5   Skin Piercing – Discretionary

                        This is a very small element of the licensing function taking less than 0.5% of the overall workload of the team. Associated costs are, therefore also low and the expenditure on this account amounts to only £1220 at the close of accounts for 2014/15. However, with only 7 registrations in that year this has still brought about a small deficit on the account.

                        Traditionally these fees have only increased year on year by a few £’s and this therefore means that a substantial increase is required in order to reduce the deficit. However, it is worth noting that this is a ‘one off’ fee as once registered this continues in perpetuity for as long as the premises is in operation.

                        Premises registrations are proposed to increase from £105 to £250 and practitioners from £47 to £89. Whilst this increase still leaves an anticipated deficit on the account, this is another area where streamlining of the process and planned future efficiencies should reduce the costs associated with conducting this function. Therefore these fees will be kept under review and re-assessed in detail as part of the fees and charges process for 2017/18.

            5.4.6   Animal Licensing - Discretionary

            This area covers a number of different types of licence as outlined in appendix C and accounts for 2.63% of the overall work of the team at a cost of £9,336 as at close of accounts for 2014/15.

            A move to online applications and afore mentioned anticipation of efficiency savings should reduce these costs over time. Therefore, whilst the increase proposed from £158 to £250 does not recover the full cost of operating the animal function, it is proposed that given the size of the deficit (circa £6000PA) it is impractical to increase fees to the level that would be required to offset this. Therefore, a further review should be undertaken as part of the 2017/18 process, which can take account of any cost savings made over the coming year.

                        It remains likely that a further increase would be required for 2017/18, however, the impact of this would be spread and if delayed for a year the overall increase should be less than if it were all imposed now.

                        Zoo licensing is also included in this account and these licences are proposed to increase from £762 to £900 for the grant of a licence and £383 to £550 for a renewal.

            5.4.7   Sexual Entertainment Venues (SEV) – Discretionary

            This area of licensing has been calculated in a different manner to the other functions performed by the department. The reason for this is that currently there are no licensed sex shops or adult entertainment venues in the borough. This means that the fee calculation must be made on an estimate of how much it would cost to fully process an application from start to finish and the cost of compliance checking throughout the term of the licence.

            The fee is therefore calculated to include administration costs (including recharges, overheads and staff salaries), broad consultation, the cost of a hearing to determine the outcome of any application received, the additional cost of processing representations and producing a report for a hearing and two compliance checks per annum.

            The recent Hemmings v Westminster Case looked at the fee charged for these types of licences and determined that the fee cannot be set as a deterrent as appears to have happened in some areas. The fee at Brentwood is however, reasonable and can be fully justified as being at an appropriate level to achieve cost recovery.

            No costs have been appropriated to this account at this stage as the only expenditure unless application(s) are received would be in training, writing of processes and procedures and formulation of a policy. These are all currently in place and whilst they will be reviewed, there was no such review in the 2014/15 period upon which current expenditure predictions are based.

5.5      With regard to any of the increases proposed, the only alternative to not increasing by as much or in failing to impose any increase at all would be for the balance to be found through the Council’s central fund. Ultimately this would mean that licence fees were subsidised by the Council Tax payer and not by those who benefit most from the grant of any licence. Anything other than attempting to achieve full cost recovery as outlined in this report is not therefore, seen as a viable or appropriate option.

(As a substitute of this Committee, Cllr Mrs Murphy did not take part in the debate or vote on this item.  Cllr Carter was not present at this stage of the meeting and therefore did not take part in the vote).