Agenda item

            The Building Control Manager reminded the Committee that it had delegated authority to determine certain fees, including those for street trading. He reported that the fees for stationary, mobile and temporary licences had remained unchanged since the Street Trading legislation had been introduced in 2002 and reminded the Committee that, at its meeting on 15th June, 2016, it had approved a list of proposed fees, as a basis for public consultation.

            He reminded the Committee further that, at its meetings on 18th January and 19th April, it had deferred consideration of the outcome of that consultation to enable officers to formulate further fee options for licences and to consider an appropriate fee for a licence to cover one day only between Monday and Friday. He provided an overview of the options which had been presented to the Committee on 17th May, which were based primarily on one compliance visit per year, two compliance visits per year and an inflationary increase since 2002, and would enable the Council to recover 61%, 65% and 53% of its costs, respectively.  The Committee had again agreed to defer the matter to enable officers to formulate a further option, based around a combination of the latter two options, with a view to keeping the increases for each licence type at a similar level.

            Accordingly, he submitted for the Committee’s consideration the following table, which set out the current scale of fees for each licence, together with a revised option, in keeping with its decision of 17th May:

            The Building Control Manager provided clarification around the revised charges and pointed out that, if approved, the Council should be able to recover approximately 43% of its costs. In terms of offering a one-day stationary or mobile licence to cover a single day between Monday and Friday, he suggested that the Committee might wish to consider charging £300, on the basis that it was one-fifth of the proposed fee of £1,500 for a weekday licence included within the scale of fees which it had, in June, 2016, approved for public consultation.

            After discussion, it was,

Moved by Councillor Boyle,

Seconded by Alderman L. Patterson,

            That the Committee agrees:

                         (i)          to adopt the revised scale of fees for Street Trading Licences, as set out within the foregoing table;

                        (ii)          that a fee of £300 be set for a Stationary or Mobile Street Trading Licence, covering any one day between Monday and Friday; and

                      (iii)          that the scale of fees be reviewed after a period of one year.

            On a vote by show of hands eleven Members voted for the proposal and three against and it was declared carried.