Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Catherine Houston, Patrick Oven and Katie Steel.  Councillor Sandy Lowry was also absent.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must notparticipate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must also withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

No disclosures of interest were declared.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on Wednesday 20 November 2024.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 20 November 2024 were confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chairperson.

To receive any announcements from the Chairman of the Committee.

The Chairperson, Councillor Young thanked the Licensing Team for all of the work they undertake and extended thanks to Mike for his work on the reports he had written for the Committee as well as responding to the Chairperson’s questions regarding the agenda papers for discussion at this meeting.  

The Committee to note the annual update.

The Committee received a report from Mike Smith, Licensing Lead, regarding the Council’s Licensing Annual update.  The update covered the licensing authorities’ responsibilities under the Licensing Act, Gambling Act, Sexual Entertainment Venues, Charitable Collections, Street Trading, Pavement Licensing and Animal Activity licensing.  The report set out the level of services that were provided, statistics in terms of applications and service requests and details of current and future projects.  There was some large projects around new anticipated licensing legislation for things like tobacco and vapes and some new and current work around the Licensing Act.  The licensing team also supported the Ask Angela Programme and any future projects that arose from that.

The Committee noted a query raised regarding the licensing of mobile homes and that at the Committee’s last meeting it was agreed this would be included as an item in the Licensing Annual Report, but yet no reference had been made in this report.  Mike Smith, Licensing Lead provided assurance that this item would be included in next year’s Annual Report, but given the Committee had already been provided with a comprehensive report on Mobile Homes at its last meeting, it had therefore not been included on this occasion following consultation with the Private Sector Housing Lead.  It was also confirmed that all papers are publicly available via the Council’s website.

A query was raised with regard to the taxi trade and employing mystery shoppers so to assess the customer’s experience in Guildford.  Mike Smith, Licensing Lead requested that this question was dealt with under the next item regarding the Taxi Update report.

The Committee noted that the Chairperson had submitted a question in advance of the meeting regarding the ‘Ask Angela Scheme’ which was successfully run in Guildford as evidenced by Committee members who attended the Licensing tour of late-night venues with Mike Smith, Licensing Lead.  The Committee had not appreciated that the scheme was run by Pubwatch and Experience Guildford.  The Licensing Lead, Mike Smith confirmed that the Ask Angela scheme meant that anybody on a night out who was concerned about their welfare, could go to the bar and speak to a member of staff.  When asking for Angela at the bar, this was code for that staff member to take the person to a safe space where the issue could be dealt with. 

The Committee noted that Councillor Hunt had recently attended a Board meeting of Experience Guildford where the matter was taken very seriously.  Experience Guildford had national ambassadors for the scheme which had in turn a very positive effect on the nighttime economy in Guildford.

Mike Smith, Licensing Lead wished to express his huge thanks personally and on behalf of the Committee to Jane Lyons who had been Chair of Guildford Pub Watch for the past 25 years and was now moving on.  Jane had accomplished a huge amount in that time and would be very difficult to replace.  The Committee wished her all the best for the future.   

The Committee noted the  ...  view the full minutes text for item L5

The Committee to receive a verbal update.

The Licensing Lead, Mike Smith reported that Best Bar None was a nationally accredited scheme based on the licensing objectives.  A big thank you was expressed to Experience Guildford and partners for their good work in making the scheme a great success. 

Winners 2024

Best Restaurant Independent – Positano and Tattam’s

Best Restaurant National – The March Hare, Heartwood Inns

Food on the Go – Tortilla

Best Pub Independent – The Royal Oak

Best Pub National – The Stoke, Greene King

Best Entertainment Venue Small – The Holroyd

Best Entertainment Venue Large – G Live

Best Bar Independent – Guildford Jubilee Social Club

Best Bar National – The Rodboro Buildings, JD Wetherspoons

Best Late Night Small – The Alley Bar

Best Late Night Large – Popworld

Outstanding Contribution to the Evening and Late Night Economy – Emma White

Most Improved Venue – Tortilla

Overall Winner – The Royal Oak

Delivered by Experience Guildford, the town centre’s Business Improvement District, the Home Office endorsed awards celebrate best practice amongst the licensed trade, showcasing the hard work and commitment of Guildford’s venues to create and run safe, responsible and inviting town centre evening economy businesses.

A total of 39 venues gained Best Bar None accreditation across nine key categories, covering national and independent operators across the bar, pub, restaurant, late night venue and entertainment sectors. Each venue was assessed and judged by an expert panel on their delivery of four set operational criteria to select individual category winners. The assessment criteria included:

Prevention of crime and disorder

Public safety

Prevention of public nuisance

Protection of children from harm

Guest presenters included Sophie Jordan the Manager of National Association of Business Crime partnerships, Sally Barker the Mayor of Guildford, and Lauren McAlister, partnerships and community safety lead for the office of Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner.

The purpose of this report is to brief the Committee on Taxi and Private Hire Licensing activity updates with the intention that the report forms a basis for future annual updates.

The Committee received a taxi and private hire update report which set out the details of the Council’s responsibilities for taxi and private hire licensing, details of application numbers and current numbers of licence holders. The report also detailed the number of service requests received, the number of committee hearings and current and future projects. 

The Committee discussed the report and noted a concern raised regarding a councillor’s experience with a Guildford taxi driver where the service was considered to be of a poor quality.  Mike Smith, Lead for Licensing confirmed that there were approx. 175 licensed hackney carriage vehicles along with a number of other private hire firms operating in Guildford.  Thousands of journeys were therefore completed every week to a very high standard.  Unfortunately, councillors only got to see the lower end of the scale when a driver has had to go before a Sub-Committee where it is considered whether they are still fit and proper to hold a licence.  From the service request statistics, the licensing department had received 191 complaints, a lot of which related to parking issues around Guildford Station.  Licensing was currently working with Network Rail to address these. 

If a member of the public was not happy with the service they have received from a taxi driver, each vehicle contained the details of the licence as well as information on how to complain or submit comments, both positive and negative.  On the Council’s website there was also a dedicated page for the public to report issues.  Licensing would investigate any complaint received and take action accordingly.  In vehicle cameras also tended to pick up a lot of things where it was clearly evident whether the driver was at fault or not.  A number of complaints are received from members of the public where the complaint is not upheld. 

The Licensing Lead, Mike Smith was concerned to see that the number of complaints received about taxi drivers had increased.  However, a lot of the complaints were around parking issues which licensing was taking steps to try to resolve specifically in relation to Network Rail and the redevelopment works taking place there.   

The Committee discussed concerns raised regarding a councillor’s experience when using a Guildford cab whereby the driver asked for their postcode.  This was surprising when taxi drivers had completed the knowledge test.  It was queried whether this was an example of laziness on the part of the driver or with now being required to do the knowledge test online and not being observed by an officer. 

The Lead for Licensing, Mike Smith confirmed that the questions which the drivers get asked online as part of the knowledge test were exactly the same as the ones they asked when they previously had to sit a written exam in person.  The licensing service had moved to an online delivery model owing to the levels of resourcing the department had and it was no longer possible to run the knowledge test in-house with officers invigilating the  ...  view the full minutes text for item L7

The Licensing Committee to review the results of the public consultation into the proposed changes to Hackney Carriage Stands (Taxi Ranks) in Guildford due to the North Street Redevelopment.  The report asks Licensing Committee to recommend the Executive approve the changes following the required statutory consultation.

The Committee invited public speaker Mr Soper to speak for three minutes. 

“The Committee noted comments made that a risk assessment for camera’s being put inside of taxi cabs had never been undertaken.  How can decisions be made without a risk assessment?  By law everything had to have a risk assessment undertaken first prior to it being put into action.  The Council was therefore wrong for allowing that to happen. 

The test, the ranks, the station, all of the new cars have caused a problem because nobody has sat down to think about the complications.  Have any of you asked about a risk assessment being done because no business will run or be insured if they haven’t done one.  I have to do a risk assessment on my taxi to make sure it goes out on the road, so I check the tyres and the lights, but nobody has done a risk assessment on your decisions which you have taken into your own hands.  If it went to a court and they asked if you did a risk assessment? Did that person get killed? You are liable.  The Lead for Licensing, Mike Smith knows that I’ve mentioned this before about the risk assessment on my taxi which got wrapped and then damaged.  The person who wrapped my taxi had no insurance and had been made bankrupt and so I had to pick up the bill.  Now I’m picking up the bill because of the number of taxis out there.  The number of drivers has increased since bringing in the online knowledge test.  I have concerns from the last Licensing Committee meeting, please put a stop to it tonight, because you haven’t done a risk assessment, and it needs further investigation.” 

The Chairperson, Councillor Young thanked Mr Soper for his contribution to this item and invited the Lead for Licensing, Mike Smith to comment.  Mike thanked Mr Soper for attending the meeting and for raising his concerns to members.  It was good that members got to hear the sorts of concerns raised by the Trade.  Issues such as the wrapping of vehicles, CCTV, knowledge testing and ranks are policy decisions made by the Committee, incorporating a public consultation process and legal scrutiny.  In terms of the first concern raised regarding the delivery and wrapping of vehicles, the Lead for Licensing, Mike Smith confirmed that it was a positive decision to wrap vehicles by that method rather than any other alternative.

The Council did not own taxis or the livery, the process was that drivers sort their own livery on their vehicle with a provider and the business relationship remained between the driver of the vehicle and the provider of that service.  The procurement service at the Council was happy with that approach at the time.  The providers of livery have to confirm that they can meet the Council’s specifications.  If a provider did have issues, then they would be removed from the list of providers.  However, it was not an approved  ...  view the full minutes text for item L8

That the Committee recommends Full Council approve the draft Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles 2025-28.

The Committee received a report from the Licensing Lead, Mike Smith.  The Council was the licensing authority for the Gambling Act and regulated a number of gambling establishments and activities in the borough.  The Gambling Act required the Council to publish a Statement of Principles every three years.  The current statement was published in January 2022.  The same principles have now been updated and a draft statement was approved by the Committee for public consultation last year.  One response was received to the consultation from GamCare, the Gambling Care Charity which was broadly in favour of plans to propose additional conditions around the policy.  The report asked the Committee to consider the representations and recommend that full Council approved the Statement of Principles for 2025.  

The Committee noted a query raised in relation to small society lotteries that operated in Guildford.  What were the financial limits that applied to small society lotteries before they had to apply to the Gambling Commission for registration with the gambling commission.  As those small society lotteries were either small charities or local and voluntary groups that raised funds, an understanding of the average amount they raised would be useful as some might raise very little in a year and others could be raising huge funds.

The Lead for Licensing, Mike Smith stated that the Society Lottery was a mechanism whereby charities could hold a lottery to raise money for their relevant cause.  To register with the local authority, the Society Lottery had to complete an application form and submit a £40 fee with a subsequent £20 fee to renew every year.  If draws are held, they then need to submit a return to confirm how much they have raised in that draw and how much of that was deducted for expenses.  The limits of Society Lotteries for a single draw were £20,000 prize money or £250,000 in the calendar year.  Anything more than that amount was deemed to not be a Small Society Lottery and therefore needed to be registered with the Gambling Commission. 

The Committee noted a further query regarding the size and the activity of the Small Society Lotteries that operated within Guildford and how much they contributed to Guildford.

The Lead for Licensing, Mike Smith confirmed that the only way to obtain this information would be to scrutinise each Small Society Lotteries return.  That exercise had never been undertaken as it was information not asked for previously.  There were approx. 60 Small Society Lotteries currently.  

The Committee noted a query in relation to the number of lotteries that are registered with the Gambling Commission, that also operated within Guildford so to provide some perspective as to their contribution to the Guildford economy.  The Lead for Licensing, Mike Smith did not have that information.              

The Committee recommended that Full Council approve the draft Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Principles 2025-28, as set out in Appendix 1.

The Committee discussed their work programme and noted the request that the Street Trading Policy, currently listed as unscheduled, be scheduled prior to summer owing to the fact that applications for coffee traders and food vans could potentially increase at that time of the year.

The Lead for Licensing, Mike Smith confirmed that street trading consents were issued for 12-month periods or shorter.  This policy was last reviewed in 2018, and the intention was to review it every 5 years.  The last time it was reviewed prior to that was in the 1980’s.  Every effort would be made to review the policy but owing to other priorities around taxis and private hire, it was likely this would not be reviewed prior to the summer.