Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting Microsoft Teams

Contact: Matthew Nundy  Email: matthew.nundy@northlincs.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1742.

Substitutions

Minutes:

Councillor M Armiger substituted for Councillor C Sherwood; Councillor D Southern substituted for Councillor S Armitage and Councillor S Wilson substituted for Councillor A Davison.

1743.

Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and personal or personal and prejudicial interests, and significant contact with applicants, objectors or third parties (lobbying), if any.

Minutes:

Councillor M Ali declared a personal interest as a personal licence holder.

1744.

Application for the grant of a Zoo Licence at Shepherds' Place, Akeferry Road, Graizelound, Haxey, North Lincolnshire pdf icon PDF 110 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director: Operations submitted a report that informed the committee of an application for a Zoo Licence at Shepherds’ Place Farm, Akeferry Road, Graizelound.

 

The committee was informed that before granting or refusing a licence for a Zoo, local authorities were required, by section 4 of the Zoo Licensing Act 1981, to consider an inspector‘s report in reaching a decision on a new licence application.

 

Where the inspection was prior to a new licence application, section 9A(7) required the inspector to be nominated by The Secretary of State from her list of inspectors.

 

In accordance with the provisions of the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 and the council’s scheme of delegation, applications for a Zoo Licence where a recommendation to refuse the Licence had been received by The Secretary of States allocated Zoo Inspector, needed to be determined by the Licensing Committee.

 

On 12 November 2020 an application was received by Mr Keith Phillips for a Zoo Licence, which was attached at Appendix A of the report.

 

Prior to an inspection the applicant must fill out a pre-inspection form which was then submitted to the nominated Zoo Vet Inspector, which was attached at Appendix B to the report.

 

On 24 February 2021 an inspection was carried out by an authorised officer for North Lincolnshire Council and by the nominated Vet Inspector. 

 

The inspector must produce a report following the inspection.  The report was attached at Appendix C to the report.

 

In the report, the inspector stated that the zoo falls so far short that in their opinion it was unlikely to meet the requirements and so cannot recommend a Zoo Licence and recommended refusal.

 

The Secretary of State would not normally expect a licence to be refused in a situation where adequate standards were not met but where there were reasonable prospects that improvements would take place.

 

The inspection report took into account the health, safety or welfare of the animals and visitors to the zoo.  Consideration was also given to the conservation status of the animals as well as how hazardous they were.

 

The Director in his report reminded the sub-committee that the options available to it under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 when considering such applications were:

 

Ø  To grant the licence

Ø  To refuse the licence.

 

The Director: Governance and Partnerships informed the committee that the applicant had not responded to invitations to attend the hearing.  However, the Secretary of States Nominated Inspector was in attendance and addressed the sub-committee and responded to questions.

 

Following the summary of the case, the meeting was adjourned for deliberation by members. 

 

Resolved - The Licensing Committee carefully listened to the verbal representation made by the Secretary of States Nominated Inspector and read the substantial documentation contained within the agenda bundle, which included the application and supporting documents submitted by the applicant, the pre inspection audit and the inspection report prepared by the Secretary of States Nominated Inspector. 

 

The Licensing Committee was informed by the council’s Senior Democratic Services Officer that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1744.

1745.

Any other items which the Chairman decides are urgent by reason of special circumstances which must be specified.

Minutes:

There were no urgent items for consideration at the meeting.