Committee to meet to revise the council’s licensing fees

Shropshire Council’s Strategic Licensing Committee will meet on Wednesday 10 December to discuss proposals to revise the council’s licensing fees for 2015/16.

The committee will hear details about the statutory fees that the council is required to charge for specific licences under the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005, as well as specific proposals to revise the fees where the council has the discretion to do so.

The discretionary fees include those associated with the licensing of sex establishments, street trading, skin treatments and cosmetic piercing, a number of different animal licences, scrap metal dealers, pleasure boats/vessels, and the distribution of free printed matter.  The Strategic Licensing Committee has the delegated authority to set the fees for Hackney carriage and private hire-related licences.

Frances Darling, Shropshire Council’s senior commissioner for public protection, said:

“If the committee decides it does wish to vary the fees for Hackney carriage and private hire-related licences, a formal period of consultation will take place in the early part of 2015, during which time all stakeholders will have the opportunity to submit representations.  The committee will meet again in March 2015 to reconsider the proposals in light of any representations received.”

For the other licence types, the committee will consider the proposals and decide whether to put these forward to the council for a final decision about adoption and implementation from 1 April 2015.

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for public protection, said:

“The council has no control over nationally-set statutory fees, and we are required to charge these irrespective of the costs actually incurred.

“With respect to the discretionary fees, we do have control, but only to set the fees on a cost recovery basis for the associated administration and compliance monitoring of the various licences.  The council cannot charge for enforcement against unlicensed businesses or individuals; this cost must be borne by the council and funded by other means.  In addition, the discretionary fees cannot be used as a mechanism to fund other council services.”

Michael Wood, Chairman of the Strategic Licensing Committee, said:

“If approved, these proposals will mean that, whilst some charges will increase, some will stay the same and some will even decrease.

“It is about making sure that our costs are covered as much as possible, so that we can deliver a fit for purpose and resilient service to our customers.”