Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors A Dale, T Reader, M E Thacker MBE and P Wright.

Members are requested to declare the existence and nature of any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or other interests, not already on their register of interests, in any item on the agenda and withdraw from the meeting at the appropriate time.

Members are requested to declare the existence and nature of any disclosable pecuniary interest and/or other interest, not already on their register of interests in any item on the agenda and withdraw from the meeting at the appropriate time. 

There were no Declarations of Interest.

To approve as a correct record and the Chair to sign the Minutes of the meeting of the General Licensing Committee held on 25 February 2021.

RESOLVED – That the Minutes of the last meeting of the General Licensing Committee held on 25 February 2021 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Committee received a report which outlined the responses received to a public consultation on introduction of mandatory CCTV in taxis, and invited Members to consider any amendments to the policy document and recommend a final version to Council for approval.

Members discussed the potential for bringing the review point forward. The Solicitor and Deputy Monitoring Officer reassured the Committee that the Licensing Team would be constantly reviewing the feedback and assessing the effectiveness of the new Policy. The three year review allowed for a delay to be factored in, as it would take time for CCTV to be installed in the District’s licensed taxis. The Committee agreed to keep the standard three year review period.

There was a consensus that signage informing the public that they were being recorded should be clear. Members noted that this had been addressed from the consultation.

The Solicitor and Deputy Monitoring Officer requested the Committee’s opinion on possible exemption for executive travel. Members agreed that any request for an exemption should come before a Sub-Committee for it be determined.

The Committee noted that amendments from the blind and deaf association would be made before the Policy was submitted to Council. It was stated, however, that some of their requests could not be accommodated due to limitations in existing technology.

Members agreed that the Policy should be introduced as soon as possible.

RESOLVED –

(1)            That the Committee note the consultation responses and officer comments.

(2)            That the Committee agree any amendments to the Draft Policy arising from the consultation feedback.

(3)            That the Committee recommend the final version of the Policy to Council for adoption.

At this point, Councillor M Foster left the meeting.

The Committee received a report which presented a periodic review of the Taxi and Private Hire Policies.

Members discussed disability awareness, and the importance of wheelchairs being positioned correctly and securely in vehicles. The Environmental Health Manager (Licensing) clarified that drivers received mandatory training on disability awareness, and would review the training to see if this was included. The Committee noted that mental disability training was also mandatory.

RESOLVED –

(1)            That the Committee note the proposed amendments to the Taxi and Private Hire Policies.

(2)            That the Committee require the Joint Assistant Director – Environmental Health to carry out a public consultation on the proposed amendments.

(3)            That the Joint Assistant Director present a further report for consideration by the Committee on the outcome of the public consultation in order to consider the renewal of the Taxi and Private Hire Policy.

To consider any other matter which the Chair of the Committee is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no matters of urgency.