Ian Leete, Adviser, updated the Board on the current position of the Deregulation Bill. This Bill had been put forward to remove outdated and obsolete regulations. The Board where informed that the LGA were concerned with clauses to taxis and minicabs, in particular enabling anyone to drive an off-duty vehicle and allowing cab firms to transfer bookings to firms based out of their own local authority area. The LGA was pressing for these clauses to be deleted from the Deregulation Bill.

The Board were informed that the LGA wished to support a proposal by Westminster Council to create an ongoing mechanism for councils to apply to Government to scrap regulations they believed to be detrimental to businesses in that area.

In addition Members were informed that the Home Office wanted to make changes to the Licensing Act, to include Community and Ancillary Sellers Notices (CAS). These changes would allow a new type of alcohol licence, intended for community venues and retailers of small quantities of alcohol. Officers were keen for a steer from the Board as to whether the LGA should accept the proposal that there is no right to appeal on these types of notices or follow the example of Temporary Event Notices (TEN’s) and lobby to ensure that an appeals process is put in place.

Members agreed in principle that there should be a right to appeal if applying for a CAS, although the Board agreed that this appeal process should be kept at the local authority level, rather than having a process that entailed going to the Magistrates.

Decision:

Members noted the report.