Report of the Transactional Management and Licensing Manager is attached.

Contact: Mandy Beever (01743 251702)

16.1    Members received the report of the Transactional Management and Licensing – Team Manager which set out the revision of licensing fees where the authority has the discretion to determine the relevant fees for the financial year from 2026 – 2027

16.2    The Transactional and Licensing Team Manager advised the meeting that licence fees were ring-fenced and that the aim was to be cost neutral or fees had to be reinvested into licencing and could not be used outside of the licencing system.

16.3    The Transactional and Licensing Team Manager informed the meeting that the process for setting the fees was to use a 3-year rolling window, using the actual figures from 2024/25 and the estimated number of licences issues in 2025/26 and 2026/27.

16.4    The Transactional and Licensing Team Manager informed Members that there were 3 types of fees, statutory fees where the Council had no discretion, fees where the council could charge up to a maximum fee and fees where the amount was totally discretionary          .

16.5    The Transactional and Licensing Team Manager advised the meeting that if the Committee agreed the proposed fees they would be taken to full Council in February as part of the wider corporate fees and charges report which if agreed would come into force at the start of the new financial year.  She informed the meeting that the only exception to this was the taxi fees which had to undergo a separate consultation which would take place from mid-January, and that if there were no objections those fees would come into effect the day after the consultation closed.  She added that if the were objections, a further report would be brought to the March meeting of the Strategic Licencing Committee.

16.5    In response to a question regarding whether fees from one income stream could be used to offset losses in other streams the Transactional and Licensing Team Manager advised that in some cases it was possible but that it depended on which legislation the charge was made under.

16.6       RESOLVED:

a.    That the Committee notes the statutory fees that Shropshire Council is required to charge in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003 as set out in Appendix A, in accordance with the Gambling Act 2005 as set out in Appendix B and in accordance with explosives and fireworks legislation as set out in Appendix C and recommends that the authority implements these fees (or if subject to statutory amendment, the relevant amended fees) on the 1 April 2026 and instructs the Transactional Management and Licensing Team Manager to arrange for the fees to be included in the 2026/27 annual fees and charges reports that are presented to Cabinet and Council and further instructs the Transactional Management and Licensing Team Manager to implement, as appropriate, any other statutory fees that may be brought into force during the 2026/27 financial year and to publish all relevant statutory fees on the licensing pages of the Council’s website as soon as is practicable. 

b.    That the Committee implements, with any necessary modification and with effect from 1 April 2026 the proposed fees as set out in Appendices D, E, F, G, H and I that relate to those licences and licensing related activities where the authority has the discretion to determine the fees and instructs the Transactional Management and Licensing Team Manager to arrange for the fees to be included in the 2026/27 annual fees and charges reports that are presented to Cabinet and Council and further instructs the Transactional and Licensing Team Manager to publish the fees on the licensing pages of the Council’s website as soon as is practicable. 

c.     That the Committee proposes to vary the fees relevant to driver, hackney carriage, private hire vehicle and operator licences as set out in Appendix F, with any necessary modification, and instructs the Transactional Management and Licensing Team Manager, in accordance with the provisions of Section 70 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 to undertake the necessary work to consult and implement the fees. 

d.    That the Committee instructs the Transactional Management and Licensing Team Manager to arrange for the proposed fees as set out in Appendix F, with any necessary modification, to be included in the 2026/27 annual fees and charges reports that are presented to Cabinet and Council and, where necessary, in respect of those fees a note is recorded in the said annual reports stating ‘Provisional fees under consultation fees to be confirmed by the Strategic Licensing Committee’.   

e.    That the Committee agrees the Relevant Protected Site fees policy as set out at Appendix J and instructs the Transactional Management and Licensing Team Manager to published the fees policy on the licensing pages of the Council’s website.