Agenda and minutes
PDF 26 KBVenue: The Council House, Burcot Lane, Bromsgrove. View directions
Contact: Andy Stephens Pauline Ross
| No. | Item |
|---|---|
|
Election of Chairman Minutes: RESOLVEDthat Councillor S. R. Collella be elected Chairman of the Board for the ensuing municipal year. |
|
|
Election of Vice-Chairman Minutes: RESOLVED that Councillor D. L. Pardoe be elected Vice-Chairman of the Board for the ensuing municipal year. |
|
|
Apologies Minutes: An apology for absence was received from Councillor Mrs. J. M. L. A. Griffiths. |
|
|
Declarations of Interest Minutes: No declarations of interest or whipping arrangements were received. |
|
|
Petition on hot food take aways “Rubery has always had a good reputation for being a nice place to shop with a variety of independent stores to choose from. Now, sadly, this is no longer the case, Rubery Village now consists of many hot food establishments. Not only has this meant an increase in “yob” culture, due to the late night opening of certain establishments, it has also meant an increase in litter, anti social behaviour and this is slowly killing the village, and making customers go elsewhere. Recently, more planning applications were submitted to Bromsgrove Council for yet more hot food establishments. We as shopkeepers now need your help. To encourage more retail outlets to open in our village we need your voice to be heard by the council. We would be grateful if you would sign the petition below so we can forward it to the Council with our objections”. Minutes: Members were asked to receive and consider a petition received from residents and shopkeepers within the Rubery area. The petition highlighted issues around late night opening of hot food take away establishments, including an increase in litter, crime and disorder and anti-social behaviour.
The Chairman welcomed Sarah Campkin, a shop owner in Rubery High Street to the meeting. Ms. Campkin informed the Board that the petition continued to be signed by residents with a further 1,000 signatures added. Ms. Campkin explained that residents and shopkeepers had expressed concerns that currently 14 out of 83 shops on the High Street were hot food takeaways with planning applications for 4 more hot food takeaways to be submitted to Bromsgrove District Council. Residents and shop owners were concerned that the late night opening of hot food takeaways was encouraging a night time culture in a village environment. The Police had been made aware of concerns and issues such as windows being smashed and shopkeepers having to clean up debris and sanitise the area outside their shop premises. Ms Campkin also expressed concern that letters and a petition she had personally handed in to Bromsgrove District Council had been lost. The Monitoring Officer informed Ms. Campkin that she would receive a full explanation as to what had happened to the petition after the Council had received it. Ms. Campkin also invited Members to consider whether Bromsgrove District Council could adopt a moratorium on opening any more hot food takeaways. She stated that other Local Councils had done so for example with only 1 in 20 premises or a total of 6% of retail outlets being used as hot food takeaway establishments.
The Monitoring Officer briefly informed Ms. Campkin of the role of the Board. In summary, the Board could not scrutinise regulatory committees or regulations; it’s role was to scrutinise and investigate the available options for future direction in policy review and development and make any relevant recommendations to the specific service areas.
At the Chairman’s discretion, Councillor P. M. McDonald, Ward Member for Waseley, spoke in favour of the petition and raised concerns about recent planning applications and planning processes. He also expressed concern about a lack of enforcement resources to tackle hot food takeaways who were in breach of their licence by opening until 2:00am.
Following further discussion and questions from Member, the Senior Solicitor informed the Chairman that concerns and issues around hot food takeaways had been discussed during a recent meeting of the Scrutiny Board. Councillor C. B. Taylor informed the meeting that officers had been tasked to scope and provide further information on other authorities’ policy guidelines on hot food takeaway stores. The Chairman invited Ms. Campkin to attend the next meeting of the Scrutiny Board at which officers would provide updates.
RESOLVED: (a) that, at the next meeting of the Scrutiny Board, the Board considers the following issues on hot food takeaways, as discussed by the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Board, namely: Litter, Enforcement and Crime and ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |