Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were recorded from Councillor Bulman.

To receive any declarations of interest by members in items on the agenda.  For any advice on declarations of interest, please contact the Monitoring Officer.

There were no declarations of interest.

Members should indicate which item(s) they wish to speak on and the nature of their concern/question/request for clarification.

There were no visiting members who had registered to speak.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the previous meeting dated 6 April 2017 provided a correct record.

Mr Stevenson, Head of Environment and Street Scene introduced the report, which provided background information to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy and updated the Committee on the representations and comments received during the consultation period.  The draft policy on which the consultation was based was provided at Appendix A and the consultation responses and consequent comments from officers had been supplied within Appendices B to F.  Appendix G provided an outline of the additional amendments that had to be implemented in line with the enactment of  sections 165 and 167 of The Equality Act 2010.

Councillor Heasman referred to the installation of CCTV in taxis as raised by Kent Police (Appendix C) and also elsewhere within the consultation responses.  He noted that CCTV had been made mandatory in Rotherham and was very keen for it to be encouraged within the TWBC policy.  Mr Stevenson clarified that, although not a requirement, CCTV had been mentioned within the proposed policy but was concerned over the Data Protection issues that would arise.  The Chairman also indicated that some drivers thought TWBC should supply CCTV for free but he confirmed that there was no funding available to do so.  Councillor Heasman suggested that if the Council were to make it mandatory, the cost could be recovered by adding it to the licence fee.  Councillor Williams felt that if other authorities such as Rotherham had made CCTV mandatory to ensure public safety then TWBC could do so too.  Councillor Nuttall felt it could have a preventative use and a number of Members suggested that the Council could investigate further on the need, costs, and occasions when it could be of  assistance.  However, Mr Harris, the Legal Officer queried whether making CCTV mandatory would be a proportionate response in TW bearing in mind the type of issues that came up at Sub-Committee hearings.  Anecdotally it was noted by some members that CCTV would not have assisted for the most part in previous hearings.  Councillor Williams suggested the Council should bring a detailed report back to the Committee on the subject but ultimately this was not pursued.  Alternatively, Councillors Woodward, Williams, Heasman and Huggett suggested changes to the wording as set out in paragraphs 27.1 and 27.2.  Following discussion, members agreed that the first sentence of paragraph 27.2 should be deleted and the word “strongly” be inserted into the second sentence to read that “The hackney carriage and private hire vehicle trade is strongly encouraged to consider the installation of CCTV cameras in their vehicles on a voluntary basis…….”.

In respect of the second part of the recommendation requiring amendment to the policy consequent upon changes to sections 165 and 167 of the Equality Act 2010, Councillor Sloan asked whether further information might be available for the next scheduled Licensing Committee in September.  Mr Harris advised that it was best practise simply to adopt the legislation and Mr Stevenson recommended that this be delegated to officers to complete in accordance with the required time  ...  view the full minutes text for item LC50/17

To consider any other items which the Chairman decides are urgent, for the reasons to be stated, in accordance with Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no items of urgent business.

The next Licensing Committee to be held on Tuesday, 5 September 2017, at 6.00pm.

RESOLVED: That the next meeting take place on Tuesday 5 September 2017.