Minutes
OF A MEETING OF THE
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General Licensing Committee
HELD on Thursday 24 June 2021 at 10.30 am
Held at 135 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Milton, ox14 4sb |
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Present in the meeting room:
Councillors: Kellie Hinton (Chair), Victoria Haval (Vice-Chair), Peter Dragonetti, Elizabeth Gillespie, Axel Macdonald, Leigh Rawlins, Anne-Marie Simpson, and Ian Snowdon
Officers: Michael Flowers and Diane Foster
Remote attendance:
Councillors: Jo Robb
Officers: Laura Driscoll and Susie Royce
6 Apologies for absence
Councillors Lorraine Hillier, Alexandrine Kantor, and Andrea Warren tendered apologies.
7 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.
8 Declarations of interest
None.
9 Urgent business and chair's announcements
None.
10 Public participation
None.
11 Joint Taxi Licensing Policy
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