Venue: in-person venue - to be confirmed
Contact: Michael Flowers Trainee Democratic Services Officer
Note: to discuss the new taxi policy
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Apologies for absence To record apologies for absence. Minutes: Councillors Lorraine Hilier, Alexandrine Kantor, and Andrea Warren tendered apologies. |
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To adopt and sign as a correct record the General Licensing Committee minutes of the meeting held on 20th May 2021. Minutes: RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 20 May 2021 as a correct record and agree that the Chair signs them as such. |
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Declarations of interest To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. Minutes: None. |
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Urgent business and chair's announcements To receive notification of any matters which the chair determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chair. Minutes: None. |
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Public participation To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak. Minutes: None. |
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Joint Taxi Licensing Policy PDF 313 KB To consider the report of the Head of Housing and Environment in relation to the revised joint taxi licensing policy. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Licensing Team Leader introduced the report and the proposed joint taxi licensing policy which was recommended for adoption. Members were informed that the existing policy had been in place since 2013 and had only received minor amendments following its implementation. The new proposed policy had been through a consultation process as agreed by members at the previous meeting of the committee on the 28th January.
The officer explained that the consultation process had included drivers, other stakeholders, and the public. It was also noted that the response showed an overall agreement for the proposed new policy and that feedback had been incorporated with some subsequent changes made to the proposed policy based on the responses. It was however noted that some feedback had been outside the scope of the consultation but that those responses would be considered for future policy reviews.
Members asked the officer questions relating to why records were required to be kept in the same location the operator took bookings. The officer explained that this was for safeguarding purposes as in circumstances where records needed to be inspected urgently, for example with the police, the records would need to be in a location that was both known and accessible to the authority.
An additional question was raised on whether having no tariff in place was normal for an authority. The officer clarified that this was rare amongst authorities with most having adopted tariffs.
Members also raised questions relating to the use of black boxes/GPS to detect excess speed, and environmental concerns over engine idling and the use of heaters in vehicles. The officer responded to each question and added that new suggestions have been noted for future policy reviews as they would require further investigation and consultation and could not be implemented in the current proposed joint taxi licensing policy.
A motion moved and seconded to support the officer’s recommendations was declared carried on being put to the vote.
RESOLVED: to approve the revised joint taxi licensing policy
The meeting closed at 11:05am
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