Agenda item

Report of the Environmental Health Team Manager

The Licensing Team Leader presented the report to Members, summarising the work delivered by the team in regards to policy review, street trading, taxi vehicles and drivers,

 and public events.  Further to the report he updated Members that the first time pass rate for vehicles was currently up to 70 percent and that another licence revocation had occurred the previous week due to the driver’s inappropriate use of pepper spray on a passenger.

In relation to the granting of taxi driver licences, Councillor R Johnson asked if there was a way to cross reference with other Council’s regarding past history.  The Licensing Team Leader reported that there was a register currently being compiled across all councils and North West Leicestershire was due to be signed up by the end of the year.

Councillor N Smith was pleased that the Council was being included on the national register as he felt it was a good thing to be able to check a potential driver’s history.  He also raised concerns regarding the inappropriate driving of licensed drivers in Ashby as it was very dangerous and asked if there was anything that could be done to tackle it.  The Licensing Team Leader reported that a lot of monitoring had been undertaken in Ashby with action being taken on drivers.  He explained that there was a warning system in place to address the problem but there were no complaints at the moment.

Councillor N Smith urged Members to report any incidents regarding the behaviour of taxi drivers as he believed it made a real difference.

The Community Services Portfolio Holder thanked officers for all of the work undertaken during the World Cup as it was a very difficult time due to the issues in Ashby when England were playing.  She felt that the closure of Market Street and the advice given to shop owners regarding early closures worked very well.  The Licensing Team Leader reported that the conditions placed on the White Heart Public House during the World Cup would remain on the licence for when events such as those were held again.  The Chairman also thanked the Councillors who agreed to sit on the hearings at very short notice to resolve the issues in Ashby during that time.

Councillors M Specht and A C Saffell congratulated the officers and police for the work undertaken in Ashby during the World Cup as it was a very positive outcome with a good example of joint working.

Councillor J G Coxon also congratulated officers and felt that they had reacted well in a very short space of time.  He asked if other premises had been reviewed to counteract any similar problems in the future.  The Environmental Health Team Manager explained that the process to review a licence was normally instigated by an incident and he would not look at adding conditions to a licence where there was a good history of compliance.  He added that at the time of the incidents in Ashby, all of the other licensed premised were visited and all of them were compliant.

Councillor A C Saffell asked if officers were still unable to access social media as this was where complaints tended to be left rather than being reported to officers.  The Legal Advisor explained that it was possible to gain access but it had to be authorised through the ICT team which was not always a quick process.  However, she assured Members that the Legal Team did have access to social media and anything relevant was passed to officers.

Regarding the conduct of taxi drivers, Councillor M Specht encouraged Members to take photographs and report it to officers.  He explained that he had recently encountered a taxi driver parked in a disabled bay on more than one occasion and even though he had spoken to the driver about it and threatened to report him, he was still doing it.  He had now reported the taxi driver to the Licensing Team who had already received many complaints. The Licensing Team Leader provided an update that the driver had now received a final warning and had been advised that anything further would result in being brought before a Sub Committee.

The Chairman thanked officers for the report and informed Members that in future, a service update would be provided by email rather than considered by the Committee.

It was moved by Councillor A C Saffell, seconded by Councillor J G Coxon and

RESOLVED THAT:

The report be noted.