Printed minutes
Argyll and Bute Council · 20 August 2025
Back to Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee — 20 August 2025 and its agenda
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MINUTES of MEETING of PLANNING, PROTECTIVE SERVICES AND LICENSING COMMITTEE held BY MICROSOFT TEAMS on WEDNESDAY, 20 AUGUST 2025 Present: Councillor Kieron Green (Chair) Councillor John Armour Councillor Gordon Blair Councillor Jan Brown Councillor Amanda Hampsey Councillor Graham Hardie Councillor Andrew Kain Attending: Stuart McLean, Committee Manager Susan Mair, Legal Manager Conor Morris, Applicant Jason Stedman, Applicant’s work colleague Sergeant Ben Rusden, Police Scotland 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Audrey Forrest, Daniel Hampsey, Fiona Howard, Mark Irvine, Paul Kennedy, Liz McCabe, Dougie Philand and Peter Wallace. 2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest. 3. CIVIC GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 1982: APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF STREET TRADERS LICENCE (C MORRIS, CAMPBELTOWN) The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. In line with recent legislation for Civic Government Hearings, the parties (and any representatives) were given the options for participating in the meeting today. The options available were by video call, by audio call or by written submission. For this hearing the Applicant opted to proceed by way of audio call and Conor Morris joined the meeting by telephone along with Jason Stedman. Police Scotland also opted to proceed by way of audio call and Sergeant Ben Rusden joined the meeting by telephone. The Chair then outlined the procedure that would be followed and invited the Applicant to speak in support of their application. APPLICANT Mr Jason Stedman, spoke on Mr Morris’ behalf. Mr Stedman advised that Mr Morris suffered from ADHD and had difficulties in his younger life which led to his convictions. He advised that Mr Morris had now gained employment and that his employer and co-workers were very supportive of him and thought he was an asset to the business. He said that this was a turning point in Mr Morris’ life; to gain meaningful employment, contribute to the community, and put his convictions behind him and move on. He said that the job would give Mr Morris responsibility, and this would be important to him. He explained that Mr Morris had difficulty in understanding how to fill out the
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application form correctly and had nowhere to go for help with this, which resulted in him omitting to declare his conviction. He said his employer’s first language was not English and he could not help with the application form. He advised that the mistakes made in the application form were down to a misunderstanding and he asked the Committee to take this into consideration and process the application so that the business could help Mr Morris grow in himself. POLICE SCOTLAND Sergeant Rusden referred to a letter dated 30 June 2025 from the Divisional Commander which advised of a conviction, in respect of 3 offences, that the Applicant had failed to declare on his application form. He explained the circumstances in respect of these offences which led to Mr Morris being convicted at Court on 29 January 2025. MEMBERS’ QUESTIONS Councillor Hampsey sought and received confirmation from Mr Stedman that Mr Morris’ boss had been unable to help Mr Morris fill out his application because there was a language barrier, with English not being his first language, and because he had no time due to being extremely busy with the business. Councillor Kain sought and received confirmation from Sergeant Rusden that Police Scotland had submitted their letter of representation as the Applicant had failed to disclose his conviction on his application form and they wanted the Committee to be aware of the offences. Councillor Kain sought and received confirmation from Sergeant Rusden that Mr Morris was 16 years old at the time of the offences. Councillor Brown sought and received confirmation from Mr Stedman that Mr Morris was applying for a Street Trader’s Licence for his current employment. He advised that the business was looking to grow with vans sited in multiple locations. They were looking to invest in Mr Morris so that he could manage food and trade from one of these vans. He advised that Mr Morris was currently employed under supervision. He explained that Mr Morris needed to have his own licence. Councillor Brown asked Mr Morris if he could explain his circumstances at the time of the offences. Mr Morris advised that there were reasons for his past mistakes. He said he was drinking heavily and that it was not a good time for him. He said that he had changed a lot since then. He advised that he did not drink anymore and that he had cut communication with most of his friends. He said that he only spoke to his family now and that all he had was this job. Councillor Blair asked Sergeant Rusden if Mr Morris was complying with the terms and conditions of his conviction set by the Sheriff. Sergeant Rusden said that there was nothing to present that he has not been complying. Councillor Blair sought and received confirmation from the Legal Manager that applications have been submitted with errors by others in the past. Councillor Blair sought and received confirmation from Mr Morris that he was aware of how lucky he was to have employers and colleagues that were supporting him. Mr Morris advised that if his application was processed, he would be very excited as he enjoyed
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cooking. He confirmed that he would stay away from trouble which, he said, he had been doing for a while now. Mr Morris confirmed that he understood the responsibility that would be placed on him by his employer. Councillor Armour sought and received confirmation from the Legal Manager that to work in the van, which had a licence at the moment, Mr Morris would still need his own licence to operate, even as just a worker. Councillor Green sought and received confirmation from Mr Stedman that Mr Morris would operate from the Kinloch Park/Kinloch Green area of Campbeltown. He said it would be just the one location and that Mr Morris would not be required to move the van. Councillor Green sought and received confirmation from Sergeant Rusden that none of the victims of the offences were from Campbeltown. Councillor Brown referred to Mr Stedman advising earlier that there were plans to work in various locations across Campbeltown, but he was now saying that Mr Morris would work at the one location. Mr Stedman explained that Mr Morris would work in one location and that the business was looking to expand with more vans which would lead to more workers each with their own street trader’s licence. Councillor Green sought and received confirmation from the Legal Manager that if it was determined that an application was intentionally completed falsely it would be for the Police to determine whether any action should be taken. Sergeant Rusden confirmed this to be correct. He advised that in this instance if the Police had felt this was a malicious act to deceive then they would have commenced criminal proceedings. He advised that there was a need to take a balance of probability and in this case, they felt it was appropriate to just inform the Committee of the offences. Councillor Green sought and received confirmation from Mr Stedman that Mr Morris was diagnosed with ADHD at a young age and at that time he received medication. He said that over the past few years he had not been medicated and was now getting to a place to try and get his ADHD under control. Councillor Brown asked if it was a mutual decision by Mr Morris and his doctor to come off the medication. Mr Stedman said that his condition was not managed correctly during his childhood and that led to his ADHD getting worse. He said it was now being managed correctly with the support of his colleagues. Councillor Hampsey sought and received confirmation from Mr Morris that he agreed with everything that Mr Stedman had said on his behalf. Councillor Hampsey sought and received confirmation from Mr Stedman that Mr Morris would continue to receive support once he was operating his own van, both in person and over the telephone. He confirmed that Mr Morris would not be left to struggle. He advised that all the other employees would receive the same level of support if required. SUMMING UP Police Scotland Sergeant Rusden advised that the facts presented related to 3 offences which took place between October and November 2023. No actual harm had come to the victims and that
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it was down to the Committee to have an opinion on those offences and the explanation why they happened given by the Applicant. Applicant Mr Stedman said that there was no intention to mislead on the application form and that it was simply due to Mr Morris’ ADHD and that he was now being supported with that. He said that the offences happened when Mr Morris was very young and when he did not have a good support network. He advised that this was Mr Morris’ opportunity to be part of the community and take on responsibility and move forward with his life and that he would have support with that. Mr Morris accepted that the application was filled out incorrectly and that it was simply because he did not know how to fill it out. He asked the Committee to consider this and give him a chance. When asked, all parties confirmed that they had received a fair hearing. DEBATE Councillor Brown said that she was all for giving someone a chance, but she was a bit concerned about this application. She said she was not concerned about Mr Morris, but she was concerned about his employment. She said she was concerned about Mr Morris’ ADHD being controlled by his employer rather than a medical professional. Councillor Blair said he would be at ease with giving Mr Morris this opportunity as he thought that he had a support network now which may be tweaked in the future with perhaps a visit to the doctor, and that he hoped this would be taken on board. He noted that the employers were taking on responsibility and that they wanted to see the business grow. He said that if Mr Morris was given this opportunity and worked hard then this would be a good move for everyone. He confirmed that he supported this application. Councillor Hardie said he shared Councillor Blair’s opinions. He said that he thought Mr Morris had turned a corner and that he would be happy to support this application. Councillor Green said he did not in any way want to diminish the offences committed. He said he thought they had been dealt with appropriately and reflected Mr Morris’ young age. Looking at public safety he noted that Mr Morris had shown he could recognise the factors that had affected his life and that it was positive that he was looking at having a review of his medication. He did not think the Committee could expect anything like that in terms of anything formal. He advised that with the support network indicated that would be provided, reflecting on Mr Morris’ age at the time of the offences, and taking account of his ADHD, which could make impulsivity more likely, he thought it would be appropriate to give Mr Morris a second chance. He said that he also took account of the fact that the victims were not in the area and so it was not likely that any additional harm would come to them by giving this licence. He confirmed that he would be supportive of granting the licence. Councillor Brown said she was not disagreeing to the granting of the licence.
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DECISION The Committee unanimously agreed to grant a Street Trader’s Licence to Mr Morris and noted that he would receive written confirmation of this within 7 days. (Reference: Report by Head of Legal and Regulatory Support, submitted)