Issue - meetings

To consider whether to delegate authority and set fees so that the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 can be effectively implemented from 1^st October 2013.

(Report attached)

The Council considered a report which set out proposals which would allow the provisions of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 to be effectively implemented from 1^st October 2013.

Members were generally pleased that the Act had come into force and were interested to establish how it might effectively regulate the business within the Borough. It was noted that the fees had been proposed at a level which would cover the costs incurred by the Council in carrying out the procedures and formalities of administering the statutory regime.

The Council noted that the Act primarily affected the activities of scrap metal dealers and had less impact on the activities of collectors, a discrepancy which was the source of disappointment to some who felt that the collectors were an occasional cause of nuisance. Officers highlighted that the Act was primarily to deal with matters other than noise nuisance, a problem which was the realm of the Environmental Protection Act. However, Officers did suggest that the authority could deem the suitability of licence holders, that licences could be revoked and that factors such as complaints under the Environmental Protection Act might form grounds for such action. Officers undertook to report back to Councillor Brunner on measures proposed to be undertaken the previous year to tackle noise nuisance by Regulatory Services. Officers also undertook to confirm for Councillor Hopkins  the situation with regard to the Environmental Protection Act and noise emitted from moving as opposed to stationery vehicles

RESOLVED that

1)        authority be delegated to Licensing Sub-Committees to refuse applications made under paragraph 2 or 3 of Schedule 1 of the Act for the grant or variation of a licence;

2)        authority be delegated to Licensing Sub-Committees to revoke or vary a licence under section 4 of the Act;

3)        authority be delegated to the Head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services to carry out all other functions and exercise all other powers provided under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013; and

4)        the fees to be charged under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 be set as shown in the table at Appendix 3 to the report.