Agenda item - Jimyings Grocery, 44A George Street, Brighton

Report of the Assistant Director of Public Safety (copy attached).

82.1       The panel considered a report of the Director of Environment regarding an application for a Highway Permission (Highways Act 1980) from Jimyngs Grocery, 44a George Street, Brighton (for copy see minute book).

82.2       It was noted that although the applicant had indicated their intention to attend they were not present at the meeting. The Chairman sought to determine that the applicant had received copies of papers for the meeting and had been aware of the date, time and venue for the meeting. It was confirmed that the applicant had been provided with that information.

82.3       Mr Denyer, The Senior Highway Enforcement Officer began by summarising the application stating that Officers had previously had delegated powers to determine highway applications, but a recent change in policy at Brighton & Hove City Council gave applicants the right of appeal to a Licensing Panel regarding A board applications.

82.4       A licence for this site had been issued under the previous policy arrangements, but amendments to the policy in April 2009 had disqualified this A board placement as it was more than five metres from the premises.

82.5       The applicant had held a licence for an advertising board in the position applied for since 2004. In that time there had been no significant incidents or complaints of breaches of legislation.

82.6       Officer opinion was that the proposed position did not constitute a significant obstruction or danger to highway users it was unclear however how the board would be monitored in future in order to prevent it being moved into the road or onto the a adjacent tactile paving. Previously, the situation had been monitored by a neighbouring shop but it did not appear that this would continue to be the case in future.

82.7       The Solicitor to the Panel addressed Members stating that a decision to grant the application would be contrary to policy, whilst the policy framework was not a rigid structure and exceptions could be made, valid reasons needed to be given as to why policy could be waived.

82.8       RESOLVED – That the Panel have decided to grant the application in this case as there are specific considerations and circumstances which apply to this application as follows:

A. There are site specific reasons in that no nuisance has resulted from this use and although there are slight concerns in view of the close proximity of the board to newly installed tactile paving it is considered appropriate for officers to determine the location of the board.

B. There is a strong economic benefit to retaining the board in its current position.

C. It is important that there have been no safety issues raised concerning the board for the entire time it has been in situ and there are no Highways Department objections to its being placed on the highway.

The Panel are attaching a specific condition to this licence as follows:

1.The applicant must accept responsibility for monitoring the A board and ensuring it is monitored regularly at least three times a day at mid-morning, lunch time and mid afternoon to ensure that it does not cause a problem for highway users or safety issues for pedestrians.