Agenda and draft minutes

 Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Fearn and Jackson.

To approve the record of the meeting held on 5 August 2025.

The record of the meeting held on 5 August 2025 was agreed and signed by the Chairperson.

The Chairperson will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none.  

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct. Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 4.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

This report updates Members on the progress of the Shared Licensing Service between Gravesham Borough Council and Medway Council. 

Discussion:

The new Regulatory Services Manager, Emily Whittaker, was introduced to the Committee.

The Licensing Manager informed the Committee that work continued to digitise forms, databases and public registers and thanked the Licensing Team for their hard work and thanked Councillors and officers for their support.

The Licensing Manager explained that the Licensing Team had completed training on safeguarding, Prevent, data protection and cyber awareness.

Joint working with Kent Police, Trading Standards, Immigration and Environmental Health had continued over the last year. Schools had been visited to ensure school transport met the required conditions and premises that opened prior to their licensed hours had been visited to ensure they did not sell alcohol during this time.

The Licensing Team continue to work with Kent Police to stop and check licenced vehicles, the approved garage agreement had been renewed and approximately £17,600 of previously unpaid annual fees had been recovered.

Members requested that the links for Licensing policies on the Medway and Gravesham webpages were regularly checked to ensure that they worked.

Members explained that there were ongoing discussions with Legal Services regarding the Cumulative Impact Policy and advice would be shared with the Committee.

With regards to the Pavement Licensing Policy the Committee were informed that work was ongoing to establish how enforcement would work in practice with regards to the removal and storage of furniture from premises. Members acknowledged the importance of enforcement alongside the policy and requested a briefing on this at the next meeting.

Decision: 

The Committee noted and commented on the reports at Appendix A and B.