Meeting documentation

Meeting documents

Licensing Committee
Wednesday, 27th January, 2010 6.30 pm

ItemDescriptionResolution
Declaration of interests - members are reminded that following the adoption by Council of the new Code of Conduct, any declaration of interest should be made having regard to the new code. In particular, members must make clear the nature of the interest and whether it is 'personal' or 'prejudicial'.

The Monitoring Officer would like to remind members that when they are considering whether the following items are exempt information under the relevant paragraph under part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 they must have regard to the public interest test. This means that members must consider, for each item, whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure outweighs the public interest in making the item available to the public.
16 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
There were no apologies for absence.
 
17 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
There were no declarations of interest.
 
18 MINUTES
Minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday, 25th November, 2009
RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 November 2009 be approved as a correct record.
19 REVIEW OF HACKNEY CARRIAGE AND PRIVATE HIRE DRIVERS 'FIT AND PROPER PERSON' POLICY
Consideration was given to the report of the Licensing Team Leader. The Chairman gave some background on the reasons why he had requested the policy be reviewed.

In response to a question from a Member, the Licensing Team Leader explained that if two Officers did not believe an applicant could speak English well enough, the application would be brought to a sub committee hearing for consideration.

A Member asked if a question regarding the ability to speak English could be put onto the application form to save time later in the process. The Licensing Team Leader reported that the application forms were being revised and that he would take the comment back to be considered.

A Member asked that the policy be amended to make it clear how many times an applicant could attempt to take the test and in what timeframe.
RESOLVED THAT:

(a) The requirement to pass a knowledge test be extended to private hire applicants.

(b) Issue 4 of the Council's Hackney Carriage and Private Hire 'Fit and Proper Person' Policy be approved.

(c) The procedures and administration of the Fit and Proper Person Policy, as detailed within paragraphs six and seven of the report, be delegated to the Commercial Services Manager.

(d) The implementation strategy as detailed at paragraph 11 be approved.

(e) The fees in principle be approved and that the implementation be delegated to the Commercial Services Manager in accordance with the Council's scale of fees and charges.
Published on Tuesday, 2nd February, 2010
The meeting closed at 6.50pm.

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillor N Smith (Chairman) (In the Chair)

Councillors G Allman, C Bowley, D Everitt, P Holland, C Meynell, G Partner, E J Purver, P Purver, V Richichi, C Timmis and R Woodward

Officers: Mr S Eyre, Miss R Levy and Mrs S Roberts.

In attendance: Councillor T Gillard