Brighton & Hove City Council
Licensing Committee (Non Licensing Act 2003 Functions)
3.00pm 6 November 2025
Council Chamber, Hove Town Hall
MINUTES
|
Present: Councillors McGregor (Chair), Cattell (Deputy Chair), Hewitt, Lyons, Nann, Parrott, Sheard, Sykes, Asaduzzaman, Goddard and Shanks
|
|
Apologies: Councillors Thomson, Czolak and Pickett |
PART ONE
1 Procedural Business
(a) Declarations of Substitutes
1.1 Councillor Goddard was present in substitution for Councillor Thomson.
1.2 Councillor Asaduzzaman was present in substitution for Councillor Czolak.
1.3 Councillor Shanks was present in substitution for Councillor Pickett.
(b) Declarations of Interest
1.2 There were no declarations of interests in matters listed on the agenda.
(c) Exclusion of Press and Public
1.3 The Committee considered whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of any of the items listed on the agenda.
1.4 RESOLVED: That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the items contained in part two of the agenda.
2 Minutes of the Previous Meeting
RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Licensing Committee (Licensing Act 2003 Functions) Meeting held on 24 July 2025 were agreed.
3 Chair's Communications
4 Callover
The Democratic Services Officer stated the items on the agenda and the following were called for discussion by the committee:
· Item 7: LICENCE FEES 2026/27 (NON-LICENSING ACT 2003)
5 Public Involvement
6 Member Involvement
7 Licence Fees 2026/27 (Non Licensing Act 2003)
7.1 Alex Evans introduced the report for this item.
7.2 The Chair stated that the objective was to improve the policy and referenced the protection from sexual harm.
7.3 Alex Evans stated that taxi traders were notified of fee changes at the taxi forum, and that taxi services had been consulted on proposed fee changes.
7.4 Cllr Shanks was informed that body piercing was a regulated industry that required a license.
7.5 Cllr Lyons requested a breakdown of total revenue from increased licensing fees and questioned whether this would produce additional revenue.
7.6 The Chair stated that increased fees would cover the cost of the licensing team and the work that it carried out.
7.7 Alex Evans provided further details on licensing application times.
7.8 Cllr Lyons stated that they did not feel they had enough data regarding the increase of license fees to make a decision.
7.9 The Chair stated the increase of fees was largely to account for inflation and increased staffing costs.
7.10 Cllr Sheard questioned whether there was a national cap on licensing fees that could be raised.
7.11 The Chair stated that this was set at the national level.
7.12 Cllr Sheard questioned whether Sexual Entertainment Venue and gambling licenses were operating at a deficit for the Council.
7.13 Cllr Parrott questioned how Brighton and Hove Taxi fees compared to those in neighbouring towns such as Lewes and Crawley, and suggested that neighbouring areas have less stringent rules for the granting of a taxi license than Brighton.
7.14 Alex Evans stated that Lewes had recently increased their licensing fees by 50%.
7.15 The Chair stated Brighton and Hove has 2.3x more accessible taxis than comparable local authorities.
7.16 Cllr Parrott stated that despite the higher number of accessible taxis available in Brighton and Hove, residents had expressed difficulty with obtaining an accessible taxi.
RESOLVED:
2.1 That the committee approved the following licence fees for 2026/27:
Taxi Licence fees - as set out in Appendix 1.
Sex Entertainment Venues and Sex Establishments fees – as set out in Appendix 2.
Street Trading fees – as set out in Appendix 2.
All Gambling Act 2005 fees – as set out in Appendix 2.
Body piercing – as set out in Appendix 2.
All Animal Activity Licences fees - as set out in Appendix 3.
A list of agreed fees for 2025/26 and proposed fees for 2026/27 is included in Appendices 1-3.
8 Items Referred For Council
The meeting concluded at 3.28pm
|
Signed
|
Chairman |
||
|
Dated this |
day of |
|
|