Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mike Hurdle, Nigel Manning, Tony Rooth and David Wright.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must notparticipate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must also withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

No disclosures of interest were declared.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 7 January 2019.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee held on 7 January 2019 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman reported that the Lead Councillor for Licensing, Environmental Health and Community Safety had requested that the Committee trial holding Licensing Sub-Committee and Regulatory Sub-Committee Hearings in the evening.  Historically, these hearings had been scheduled during the day.  By holding such hearings in the evening, it was hoped that more councillors on the Licensing Committee would have the opportunity to volunteer and use their skills and training.  To date, two Licensing Sub-Committee Hearings had been scheduled and had resulted in the same Councillors putting themselves forward for daytime hearings.  The Chairman encouraged councillors to volunteer in the evening so that the responsibilities for acting as a Sub-Committee can be more equally shared in the future. 

The Chairman and the Lead Councillor for Licensing, Environmental Health and Community Safety thanked the Committee for all of their hard work to date given this was the Committee’s last meeting prior to the local elections to be held in May 2019.

The Committee received a report regarding the Taxi and Private Hire Fees and Charges 2019-20 and recalled that the Committee, on 7 January 2019, had approved the proposed taxi and private hire fees and charges for the financial year 2019/20 for consultation.  Two objections  had been received during the consultation period and one was subsequently withdrawn.  The advertised fees and charges could not come into effect until the remaining objection had been considered.    Mr and Mrs Simmonds did not wish to withdraw their objection, despite having an in depth meeting with the Licensing Team Leader who set out the rationale for the fee setting process.  The Committee noted that Mr and Mrs Simmonds were also unable to attend the meeting. 

The Committee noted the proposed fee for the Private Hire Operator’s application and renewal was £970.97 for a 5-year licence and asked for clarification as to why the fee was set so high.  The Licensing Team Leader confirmed that the proposed Operator cost was calculated by taking the costs associated with the operator function over 5-years, divided by the total number of operators currently.  It was explained that the Council was not currently recovering its costs through the current operator’s fee.  If the Council had more Private Hire Operators, moving forward, the costs could be reviewed.  The Licensing Team Leader confirmed that he had spent two hours with the objectors Mr and Mrs Simmonds clarifying the fee setting process and reiterated that a considerable amount of temporary staff time had been removed and not passed onto the licensed trade through fees. 

The Committee having considered the report

RESOLVED

To approve the Taxi and Private Hire Fees and Charges for 2019/20 to take effect from 1 April 2019. 

The Committee noted its work programme for 2019-20 and that its next meeting was scheduled on 29 May 2019.