Agenda and minutes

The Vice-Chair opened the meeting and explained that the Chair had given his apologies for the meeting, and so in line with the Constitution at Part 5 Section 2 6.2 he would be Acting Chair for this meeting.

Before beginning the formal business of the meeting, the Acting Chair led a two minute silence following the sad news of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

Members and Officers are reminded to make any declarations of pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests that they may have in relation to items on this agenda and are reminded that they should re-declare their interest before consideration of the item or as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

Members and officers should make their declaration by stating:

a) the item they have the interest in

b) whether it is a pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial

c) the nature of the interest

There were no Declarations of Interest made.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2022 and to note the Minutes from the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 15 August 2022, as attached.

The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 17 June 2022 were approved by the Committee and signed by the Chair. The Minutes of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 15 August were noted by the Committee.

The Chair confirmed that there were no urgent items.

To receive questions from the public (for a period of up to 15 minutes).

The Chair confirmed that there had been no questions from the public submitted for this meeting.

This report updates the Committee with the Q1 Performance Outturn for the Key Performance Indicators for the period 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022.

The Chair confirmed that the report was an information paper with no recommendations for the Committee to consider and was taken as read by Members. The Committee noted the report.

The Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy was last reviewed and approved in 2017. Several pieces of statutory and non-statutory guidance have been released as well as the introduction of new pieces of relevant legislation since this time. The policy should be reviewed periodically and at least every five years. There is also, because of the policy revision, a requirement to amend the current Hackney Carriage Byelaws so that they align with the policy proposals. This report seeks the Committee’s approval to publish the draft revised policy for consultation and agree to advertise and consult regarding amending the Hackney Carriage Byelaws.

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Group Head of Technical Services presented the report which explained that the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy was last reviewed and approved in 2017 and should be reviewed periodically and at least every five years, over which time several pieces of statutory and non-statutory guidance had been released and new pieces of relevant legislation introduced. It was also explained that, because of the policy revision, a requirement to amend the current Hackney Carriage Byelaws so that they aligned with the policy proposals was needed and therefore the report sought the Committee’s approval to publish the draft revised policy for consultation and agree to advertise and consult regarding amending the Hackney Carriage Byelaws. Proposed changes to the policy highlighted in the meeting included:

·         wheelchair accessible vehicle requirements

·         vehicle livery and requirements to display large stickers on the side of vehicles to better indicate whether they were taxis/private hire

·         changes to the emissions policy to encourage the transition to lower emission vehicles, including proposals to discount licences of ultra low emission vehicles for a period of time

·         revisions to the convictions policy in order to bring it in line with the Institute of Licensing’s conviction guidance to ensure consistency across Local Authorities

·         updates to the dress code to ensure a high standard of attire and presentation from drivers

·         a proposal to introduce and mandate the use of CCTV in taxis for the prevention and detection of crime

·         revisions to the penalty points system

·         clarifications around decision making

The Acting Chair thanked the team for the hard work involved in this project. Another Member of the Committee spoke in support of proposals and in particular the green features being proposed and introduced.

The recommendations were then proposed by Councillor Clayden and seconded by Councillor Blanchard-Cooper.

The Committee

RESOLVED – That

1.    The draft revised policy be published for public consultation for a period of six weeks beginning 19 September 2022 until 31 October 2022. Comments will be brought back to Committee for consideration;

2.    The proposed Byelaws be advertised and consulted upon and brought back to Committee for consideration.

The Committee is requested to note its Work Programme for 2022/23.

The Committee noted the Work Programme.