Councillors Slam 'Ridiculous' Licensing Meeting Farce

Councillors in Wokingham said they felt 'really uncomfortable' after what one described as a 'ridiculous' Licensing and Appeals Committee meeting that lasted just under 13 minutes on 28 October.

The committee, which regulates taxis, late-night food and alcohol across Wokingham, Woodley and Earley, has met very rarely over the last two years.

Councillor Rachel Burgess (Labour, Norreys) said: "I just wanted to put it on record that I feel really uncomfortable that democratic services have been asked to hold this meeting, set up the room, do all the tech when there is literally no business on the agenda. All I can see is that we're about to elect a chair, who then gets paid more as a result, and I just think it looks terrible, there's no business to preside over. Why has it been called? I feel very uncomfortable and think it would look really quite bad to members of the public, presiding over a meeting that literally has no business. I don't think we should be going ahead, personally."

Democratic services officer Luciana Bowker said: "This is a scheduled meeting, I appreciate there are no business items."

Cllr Pauline Jorgensen (Conservative, Hillside) posted after the meeting: "Well, that was ridiculous. The only thing on the agenda was approval of the minutes and appointment of a Chair and deputy! For this we had a lawyer, three officers, 11 councillors, the office was open, the room had been set out and there were two security staff. It seemed to be the only meeting in the building. This is a council which claims to be short of money; the cost of all those officers and opening the building must be high. The only reason to have the meeting seemed to be to elect a chair and for the extra responsibility of chairing a committee which only seems to meet once a year; they get £2,500 of taxpayers' money! To be clear, there are no extra payments for any other councillor for this committee or the panels! So why did the Lib Dems not cancel this meeting and save some money?"

Jorgensen also said she felt the meeting could have been handled differently and raised concerns about differing standards for school transport and private hire licences.

Members criticised the number of cancelled sessions over the past two years and said scarce meetings meant standards were not being progressed.

The primary business was electing a chair. Councillor Beth Rowland (Liberal Democrats, South Lake) was elected with six votes, and Cllr Chris Cooke (Liberal Democrats, Wescott) was elected vice-chair.

A council spokesperson said: "The October Licensing and Appeals Committee meeting went ahead to formally appoint a Chair, as the Committee had not yet met during the current municipal year. The previous meeting in June was cancelled because there were no decisions to be made, so the appointment had been delayed. Having an elected chair is important to ensure the committee can operate effectively, provide leadership and oversee future licensing decisions. The appointment must be made formally by the committee at a meeting, so it was considered important to proceed rather than delay this further."

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter