The Licensing Committee of Surrey Heath Borough Council held it's first meeting of the new municipal year this evening (Wednesday 14th June).
Cllr Valerie White had been appointed to serve as Chair of the committee, with Cllr Rob Lee appointed as Vice Chair.
At this meeting, there were several items of note, including the food and safety service plan and the decisions to be made on the provision of pavement licences for local businesses in the borough.
Food and Safety Service Plan
As a local authority, Surrey Heath Borough Council (SHBC) is mandated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to have a food safety service plan that adheres to national standards. This is to ensure that businesses within the borough act safely and responsibly in the preparation and serving of food to customers. Here in Surrey Heath, the Food and Safety team enforces health and safety for approximately 1,400 business in the borough, covering offices, retail, hospitality and leisure services, ensuring they are complaint with standards set out the FSA.
The Food and Safety Service Plan was presented before the committee, with the report from the previous year and asked to approve the service plan for 2023/24. As outlined by SHBC officers, this plan contributed to the five year strategy and the Council's Annual Plan.
In 2022/23, the Food and Safety team at SHBC conducted 433 visits to food premises, including programmed inspections and advisory, sampling, and intelligence gathering visits. 98% of food premises visited achieved a Food Hygience Rating of 3 (satisfactory), 4 (good), or 5 (very good).
Councillors discussed how the plan should support local businesses and in the process, improve businesses who had low FSA scores. It was agreed that the Food Safety and Heath and Safety 2023/24 Service Plan presented before the committee should be approved.
Pavement Licence Report
Businesses within the borough that seek to make use of the pavement adjacent or outside their premises must obtain a licence in order to do so. This facilitate outdoor seating for hospitality venues on safe highways.
The cost of administering a pavement licence was estimated to be around £500. With this, councillors discussed the importance of businesses being able to obtain a licence, as outdoor seating can help attract higher footfall, and agreed that a £100 fee was acceptable for commercial businesses.
Councillors resolves that the fee for applications for a pavement licence are to be reinstated from the beginning of October later this year, with exceptions provided to charitable organisations and community interest companies.
Licensing Committee Work Programme for the year
Councillors noted the upcoming work programme for the municipal year and agreed to the proposed draft - see attached document below for further information.
