Agenda and minutes

Members and officers must declare any disclosable pecuniary interests in relation to any business on the agenda.  Declarations should also be made at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting.

If in doubt contact the Legal or Democratic Services representative for this meeting.

There were no declaration of interests

To receive any questions from Members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 11.2

(Note: Public Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

There were no public questions

To approve the minutes of the Licensing Committee meetings held on the 20 Jaunary 2021

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting of the 20 January 2020 be approved as the correct record

To consider any items the Chairman of the meeting considers to be urgent

There were no urgent items

To consider a report by the Director for Communities, copy attached as item 5

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for Communities, a copy of which had been distributed to all members, a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as item 5

The report before members explained that the Secretary of State for Transport had issued statutory guidance on exercising taxi and private hire vehicle licensing functions to protect children and vulnerable individuals from harm when using these services. Members were requested to note the proposed changes and that the council implement the ‘Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards’.

Members discussed the report and sought information on consultation about the proposed changes and information relating to data expressed within the report. The committee was told that the guidance was compulsory unless there were very good reasons for non-implementation, members were also given information about how the Taxi Licensing Team interacted with the trade on matters related to the handbook.

The Committee agree that the changes were important and approved the recommendations before them. Member asked that the changes be promoted by the Council’s Communication Team.

Resolved: That  the Statutory  and  Private  Hire  Vehicle  Standards be approved and that Officers implement the Standards as soon as practicable.