Agenda and minutes

An apology was received from Councillor R Welton.

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.

None.

To approve as a correct record and the Chair to sign the Minutes of the meeting of the General Licensing Committee held on 21 February 2024.

RESOLVED - That the Minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2024 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Report of the Joint Assistant Director for Environmental Health.                          

The Environmental Health Team Manager (Licensing) presented a report proposing to review the licence fees for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicles, Drivers, and Operators.

Members were informed that since the last review of the Council’s taxi licensing fees, costs had continued to rise and an increase in statutory requirements and changes to policy had placed further pressures on the Licensing Team. This meant that the current taxi fees were no longer sufficient to recover costs, so Appendix 1 to the report included a table of proposed fee calculations in line with the legislation and case law.

The Environmental Health Team Manager (Licensing) brought attention to Appendix 2 to the report (a comparison between the proposed fees and fees at nearby authorities) and stated that the comparisons showed that the proposals were competitive.

The Committee agreed with the proposals, but hoped there would be scope in the future to amend them if necessary, particularly with the cost of living crisis in mind.

RESOLVED –

1. The Committee approved the revised draft licence fees for consultation.

2. The Committee required the Joint Assistant Director of Environmental Health conduct a consultation directly with the trade and place the statutory notice in the relevant local newspaper, on the Council premises and on the Council website.

3. In the event objections are received, the Committee required the Joint Assistant Director of Environmental Health to report any objections to the modified fees back to the General Licensing Committee in line with the legislative requirements.

4. In the event no objections are received, the Committee required the Joint Assistant Director of Environmental Health to implement the new fees and charges.

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

None.