Agenda and draft minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 19 November 2025 were agreed and signed as a true record.

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To agree any items to be dealt with after the public (including the press) have been excluded. Thereare no itemswhich officersrecommendshould be dealtwithin thisway.

There were no confidential or exempt items.

The Licensing Manager introduced the report which provided an update on the activities of the Licensing Service under the Licensing Act 2003, Gambling Act 2005, Taxi and Private Hire Licensing and General Licensing including Street Trading and Pavement Licensing.

Discussion and responses to questions included the following points:

·        Regarding misuse of taxi ranks across the District, and particularly the taxi rank in Imperial Road, Exmouth, the Licensing Manager was waiting for a response from Devon County civil enforcement regarding the possibility of changing the highway designation to prevent unlawful parking in the taxi rank of vehicles using local amenities;

·        The reporting period covered by the update report was October to December 2025;

·        It was noted that the Imperial Road taxi rank, Exmouth, was the closest rank to Exmouth station and had been constantly misused for a number of years. Licensing Officers would continue to raise this with Devon County Council;

·        Further action could be considered at the next meeting if a response had not been received from DCC. Cllr Dumper would also raise this via the HATOC;

·        Regarding the Pavement Licensing Policy, it was noted that the majority of renewals fall in September to October and it would be possible to review the fees prior to that at the April or July Committee meeting;

·        It was agreed that the number of applications received under the Licensing Act 2003 could be broken down into categories for future reporting;

·        Regarding the Department for Transport consultation on potential benefits and challenges of making all local transport authorities responsible for taxi and private hire licensing, it was agreed to leave the consultation response to the Devon Licensing Officers Group to formulate a Devon wide response;

·        The Licensing Manager was waiting for authority to recruit for the part time Licensing Officer role. Once received, both vacant posts [1x full time; 1x part time] could be advertised on the same advert;

·        During the recruitment process, the Licensing team would have to cut back on proactive site visits due to reduced capacity, however, all statutory obligations would continue to be met.

The update report was noted.

The Licensing Officer provided an overview of the report. A draft pavement licensing policy was developed jointly by local authorities across Devon and Cornwall through 2025 and presented to the Licensing and Enforcement Committee on 16^th July 2025. On that date, the Committee approved moving to a public consultation on the draft pavement licensing policy.

The consultation ran until 30 September 2025 and was open for 10 weeks. The consultation received 253 contributions, and the report summarised the responses and feedback received. It was noted that numerous responses had cited a need for an earlier start time than the 10:00am start which had been proposed. Officers proposed that consideration be given to amending the general opening hours start time to 9:00am following the feedback received.

The policy, if approved, would ensure that the Council carries out its pavement licensing responsibilities in a fair, equitable and consistent manner, and in line with other Devon authorities who have adopted the policy.

Discussion and responses to questions included the following points:

·        The proposed amended start time for the policy of 9:00am was supported as this would assist small businesses;

·        The 2m width rule on the pavement was vital, particularly for visually impaired persons;

·        It was noted that an applicant could apply for an earlier start time than that set out in the policy, with evidence to support the application, and that a decision could be made under officer delegation;

·        Applications would not be progressed where clearance was not sufficient to comply with Government mobility legislation;

·        Fees initially charged by EDDC were lower than other Devon authorities, however, more information was now available regarding costs to EDDC to better inform setting fees going forwards;

·        Concern was expressed that there needs to be some balance when assessing applications which did not meet the pavement width requirements;

·        Officers would conduct site visits to assess localities on an individual basis to find the right balance between business needs and mobility requirements;

·        It was noted that there was no right of appeal to an external organisation. Appeals would be made directly to EDDC.

The Licensing & Enforcement Committee gave consideration to the feedback received during the public consultation and

RESOLVED

To approve the adoption of the draft policy with an amended start time for general opening hours in the policy of 9:00am.

The Chair thanked everyone for attending and expressed the Committee’s thanks to those officers who were shortly to leave the Council’s employment.