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Grass-cutting on council properties | Due to wet conditions of the grass, we may not be able to cut all of the grass areas of our council properties at this current time; this includes our parks, open spaces and play areas. Our team are surveying the sites and as soon as the areas are dry enough, our team will be grass-cutting as usual. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. 

Meeting documentation

Meeting documents

Taxi and Private Hire Sub Committee
Monday, 6th April, 2009 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.
1 ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN
 RESOLVED THAT:

Councillor D Howe take the Chair for the meeting.
2 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
There were no apologies for absence received.
  
3 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no interests declared.
  
4 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
 RESOLVED THAT:

In pursuance of Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act, and in the circumstances of the matter under consideration, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.
The officers consider that the press and public should be excluded during consideration of the following items in accordance with Section 100(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 as publicity would be likely to result in disclosure of exempt or confidential information.
5 CONSIDERATION OF A PRIVATE HIRE DRIVER'S LICENCE AND HACKNEY CARRIAGE DRIVER'S LICENCE
The licence holder's legal advisor stated that the report of the Licensing Enforcement Officer was inaccurate, contained hearsay and was detrimental to his client's interests. He requested that the meeting be adjourned and that the Councillors disqualify themselves from the hearing since they had had time to read the report prior to the meeting.

The Legal Advisor outlined the Council's procedures which required that the agenda and associated reports be issued to members 5 clear days before the meeting. He also referred to relevant case law which demonstrated that hearsay was admissible in these cases and sufficient for Licensing Committees to make decisions in respect of disqualifying licences.

Members requested legal advice on adjourning the meeting. The Legal Advisor stated that he felt the legal challenge to the content of the report was unfounded, and the content of the report was admissible. He advised members that it would be their decision whether or not to adjourn the meeting.

The licence holder's legal advisor stated that a number of complaints in the report were unsubstantiated. He added that his client had the right to challenge these statements and have those witnesses brought forward to enable the evidence to be challenged.

In response to questions from members regarding the belatedness of the complaints raised, the licence holder's legal advisor advised that he had begun representing his client a week previously.

At 6.50pm the Sub Committee adjourned to consider its decision. The meeting reconvened at 7.17pm.
  • (Attachment: 1)Report of the Licensing Enforcement Officer
 RESOLVED THAT:

The decision be deferred to allow the licence holder's comments to be considered and to invite witnesses to attend.
Published on Wednesday, 15th April, 2009
The meeting closed at 7.18pm.

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillors P Holland, D Howe and N Smith.

In attendance: Councillor T Gillard.

Officers: Mr D Gill, Miss E McHugh and Miss M Terry.

In attendance: the licence holder and the licence holder's legal advisor.