The Chair will advise the meeting of the evacuation procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. This is particularly important for visitors and members of the public who will be unfamiliar with the building and procedures.

The Chair will inform the meeting whether there is a planned evacuation drill due to take place, what the alarm sounds like (i.e. ringing bells), where the closest emergency exit route is, and where the second closest emergency exit route is, in the event that the closest exit or route is blocked.

The Chair will inform the meeting that:

(a) in the event of the alarm sounding, everybody must leave the building via the nearest safe available exit and gather at the Assembly points at the far side of the Car Park. Nobody must leave the assembly point until everybody can be accounted for and nobody must return to the building until the Chair has informed them that it is safe to do so; and

(b) the lifts must not be used in the event of an evacuation.

Any officers present at the meeting will aid with the evacuation.

It is important that the Chair is informed of any person attending who is disabled or unable to use the stairs, so that suitable arrangements may be made in the event of an emergency.

The Chair drew attention to the evacuation procedure.

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves or their spouse, civil partner or person with whom they are living with as a spouse or civil partner.  They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

The Chairman will ask Members if they have any interests to declare in respect of items on this agenda, under the following headings:

(a)          Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI) under the Localism Act 2011.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DPI, the Member must leave the meeting and not take part in the discussion or vote.  This applies even if there is provision for public speaking.

(b)          Disclosable Non Pecuniary Interests (DNPI) under the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council in May 2012.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DNPI interest, the Member may stay, speak and vote on the matter.

(c)           Where it is possible that a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts would conclude that there was a real possibility that the Member might be predetermined or biased the Member should declare their predetermination or bias and then leave the meeting while that item is considered.

Advice to Members:  If any Councillor has any doubt about the existence or nature of any DPI or DNPI which he/she may have in any item on this agenda, he/she should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer, the Head of Legal or from other Solicitors in Legal Services as early as possible, and in advance of the Meeting.

No interests were declared.

The Licensing Team Leader introduced the report which asked Members to consider waiving several of the licensing requirements contained within Swale Borough Council’s (SBC) current Street Trading Policy, in respect of a one off 2 day street trading application submitted by the Faversham Hop Festival organisers, scheduled to take place on the weekend of 3/4 September 2022.  She referred to the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 which gave permission for Local Authorities to designate ‘consent streets’ that allowed sellers to seek authority from the Council, unless it was exempt. The Licensing Team Leader explained that trading without a licence was a criminal offence and offenders could receive a £1,000 fine on conviction.  She said that SBC designated all streets in July 2010 and the Street Trading Policy, which was agreed in 2013, set out the application process.

The Licensing Team Leader said that a revised Street Trading Policy was agreed by Members in February 2020, and following a consultation, the final draft policy was approved by the General Licensing Committee in January 2021, and was adopted by Full Council in March 2021.

Drawing attention to the changes to the previous policy, the Licensing Team Leader said this included the following:

·         Changes to the application process which meant an event organiser could no longer apply for a one-off consent to cover a number of stalls and a trader must have their own consent;

·         new applications to be submitted 8 weeks before an event and now included a 28 day consultation as detailed in paragraph 5.3.3 of the policy; and

·         a requirement for all annual or 6 month consents to provide a basic DBS check and applications for one-off consents to have a DBS check if considered necessary.

The Licensing Team Leader referred to the consultees on the draft policy as set out in paragraph 2.5 of the report and highlighted that whilst holders of existing annual or 6 month consents were consulted, previous one-off event consents such as the Faversham Hop Festival, were excluded from the consultation.

The Licensing Team Leader then gave a background to the circumstances that had led to the Extraordinary Licensing Committee being necessary.  She explained that the event manager of the Hop Festival had emailed in early July 2022, to clarify the new licensing requirements, and they had not followed up with colleagues as directed on the out of office response received whilst she was on annual leave.  Once the process had been confirmed on her return from leave, an application was received for a one-off Street Trading Consent on 27July 2022 but no fee was received.  The expected DBS checks for the directors of the event company and a list of stall holders had yet to be received.

The Licensing Team Leader explained that whilst there was insufficient time to consult on the application, the Safety Advisory Group which included many of the consultees for Street Trading Consents, had considered the event management plan and no adverse comments had been received.  In addition  ...  view the full minutes text for item 255.