Agenda and minutes

Received from Councillor Martin Klute.

None.

None.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 January 2022 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

RESOLVED:

That the membership of the Licensing Regulatory Committee, appointed by the Council on 26 May 2022, its terms of reference and dates of meetings for the municipal year 2022/23, as set out at Appendix A of the report of the Director of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer, be noted.

The Licensing Officer reported that there were no updates to the written report provided to the Committee.  Attempts had been made to contact the residents who had objected to the application, but the Council had had no response from them and they were not present this evening.

The Environmental Health Officer summarised events to June 2022, with the  last odour diary sheets received in December 2020 and the last ASB out of hours call  taking place in April 2021. Since the last Committee meeting, work had taken place between November 2018 and June 2019 on a legal case for prosecution of the business for breach of S80 Environmental Health Notice but this was stopped in June 2019 as legal advice had been received that it was not in the public interest to proceed with it. The running of extractor fans 24 hours a day had helped, with no instances of odour.  Smoke tests on 30 January 2019 showed no smoke from the treatment area, carrying through only smoke from the gas meter cupboard, which was the responsibility of the freeholder.  There had been a number of visits to the premises by Environmental Health and ASB officers between May and September 2019, resulting in no evidence of odour.  There had been no diary sheets received, call outs or emails between December 2019 and July 2020 and the premises had been closed from March 2020 to July 2020 due to the Covid lockdown. In May 2021, Public Protection agreed to commission the services of an independent Occupational Hygienist to monitor both the business and residential premises to investigate Volatile Organic Compounds levels, allegations of formaldehyde fumes and issues with the structure causing delays/accumulations of odours and/or unusual routes of transmission. However, due to various factors, this had yet to take place.

In response to a question from a Member of the Committee, the Environmental Health Officer confirmed that there had been no contact with the objectors since April 2022. The Environmental Health Officer also confirmed that the objectors had bought their own hand-held monitors to test the air, but these were not permitted as evidence.

Members noted that some residents had said that the premises should not have been allowed to operate and the Environmental Health Officer said that planning consent had been granted for use as a nail bar. In response to a further question about actions to mitigate odour from the premises, the Environmental Health Officer stated that new fans had been installed in the premises, the ceiling in the basement had been reinstated and the applicants had temporarily sealed the gas meter cupboard in the basement. In a smoke test, smoke had showed up through the gas meter cupboard and any possibility of removing the cupboard was the responsibility of the freeholder.  In addition, the applicant had considered carefully which nail treatments should be carried out in which part of the premises in order to mitigate any possible odour and carried out the treatments as close to ventilation systems  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

The Chair of the Committee welcomed Mr Dakiye to the meeting.

The Street Trading Manager stated that Street Trading Conditions required traders to trade for a minimum of three days per week. Mr Dakiye had been trading since March 2013, first selling mobile telephone accessories and later, because trade was not so good, adding wallets, belts and watches to his licence. 

In March 2019, following requests by Mr Dakiye, his application to vary his licence to sell Ethiopian hot foods was approved by the Street Trading Panel. At the time, there was no one else selling Ethiopian food in Whitecross Street Market and the Council felt that it was right to support a local resident trying to succeed in a local business. The business was going well until in October 2020, when Mr Dakiye had to request carer’s leave from trading to care for a family member with health needs.

Towards the end of March 2020, the Covid pandemic set in and all Council licensed traders faced disruption and the occasional suspension of licences. Although the sale of hot foods was permitted, traders were unable to make a living due to lack of footfall and were awarded dispensation.  Mr Dakiye returned to trade for a brief period in December 2021, but his family member was still very ill and he had to provide care.

The return of traders post pandemic was staggered, but most traders had returned by the end of summer of 2021.  Mr Dakiye was contacted in August 2021 as he had not yet returned to trade. However, once again due to the poor health of his family member, he was not able to return to trade in Whitecross Street Market.  The Street Trading Team supported and communicated with Mr Dakiye on a regular basis through all the time he was absent from the Market.

Mr Dakiye’s licence was renewed in January 2022 but Mr Dakiye did not return to trade, even though he had said that he would and was happy to renew and pay the rent, although he continued to defer his return.

There had been a waiting list for traders wishing to sell hot food in markets and the Street Trading Team had been approached by another local resident wanting to trade in Whitecross Street Market to sell Ethiopian foods.

Since the report for this meeting had been published, Mr Dakiye had returned to trade in Whitecross Street Market in the past week.  The Street Trading Manager stated that, whilst the Council was reluctant to revoke any trader’s licence, they had to balance this against the wish of others to trade in the Market to earn a living.

The Street Trading Manager said that, now that Mr Dakiye had returned to trade, her proposal was that the situation be monitored and she would report back to the Committee in December 2022 on the situation of Mr Dakiye’s trading record.

Mr Dakiye stated that he very much enjoyed working in the Market. The health of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Noted.