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Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, District Council Offices, Gernon Road, Letchworth Garden City

Contact: Committee Services (01462) 474655  Email: committee.services@north-herts.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Decision:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ian Albert, David Barnard and Elizabeth Dennis-Harburg.

Minutes:

Audio recording – 16 seconds

 

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ian Albert, David Barnard and Elizabeth Dennis-Harburg.

2.

MINUTES - 5 NOVEMBER 2018 pdf icon PDF 101 KB

To take as read and approve as a true record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 5 November 2018.

Decision:

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 5 November 2018 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chairman.

Minutes:

Audio Recording – 33 seconds

 

It was proposed by Councillor Lisa Nash, seconded by Councillor Mike Rice and

 

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 5 November 2018 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chairman.

3.

NOTIFICATION OF OTHER BUSINESS

Members should notify the Chairman of other business which they wish to be discussed at the end of either Part I or Part II business set out in the agenda. They must state the circumstances which they consider justify the business being considered as a matter of urgency.

 

The Chairman will decide whether any item(s) raised will be considered.

Decision:

There was no other business notified.

Minutes:

Audio recording – 1 minute 4 seconds

 

There was no other business notified.

4.

CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chairman of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda.  Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wishing to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.

Decision:

(1)       The Chairman advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be audio recorded;

 

(2)       The Chairman drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

Minutes:

Audio recording – 1 minute 11 seconds

 

(1)       The Chairman advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be audio recorded;

 

(2)       The Chairman drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

5.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.

Decision:

There were no presentations by the public.

Minutes:

Audio recording – 2 minutes 16 seconds

 

There were no presentations by members of the public.

6.

LICENSING SERVICE ANNUAL REPORT pdf icon PDF 75 KB

REPORT OF THE LICENSING MANAGER

 

To give the Licensing and Appeals Committee a summary of the work undertaken by the licensing service over the previous twelve months, an update on existing projects and an overview of future proposals.

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED:

 

(1)       That the report entitled Licensing Service Annual Report be noted;

 

(2)       That the Licensing Manager be requested to circulate the risk rating scheme for inspections to all Members of the Licensing and Appeals Committee prior to implementation.

 

REASON FOR DECISIONS: Section 8.2.3 of the Council Constitution requires the Full Committee to meet at least once per year and section 8.2.3 (d) requires the Committee ‘to receive an annual report on licensing activities including performance information’.

Minutes:

Audio recording – 2 minutes 22 seconds

 

The Licensing Manager presented the report entitled Licensing Service Annual Report together with the following appendix:

 

·                Appendix A - Annual Licensing Report.

 

The Licensing Manager drew attention to the following:

 

·                 That the Licensing Team would be increasing;

·                 Although only half of the proposed inspections were undertaken, they were on target as the other inspections were not required;

·                 A new inspection regime would be introduced;

·                 The number of licensing applications had increased;

·                 A significant amount of work was responding to phone calls;

·                 Taxi complaints had increased, although this was mainly due to education of the public and encouraging people to report problems;

·                 Income generating activities included taxi compliance tests, knowledge and topographical tests and safeguarding awareness courses;

·                 The team had never lost a Licensing appeal;

·                 Legislation prevented the Council from making a profit on licensing fees;

·                Although fees sometimes did not cover the costs involved in dealing with an event, they were set by Government and could not be amended;

·                New gambling and scrap metal policies were in place;

·                The Hackney Carriage and Statement of Licensing policies  would be reviewed;

·                A new Annual Licensing Policy would be introduced this year;

·                They were encouraging the public to self help by using the active licencing register on line and the use of on line licensing applications;

 

The following Members asked questions and entered into the debate:

 

·                 Councillor Richard Thake;

·                 Councillor Mike Rice;

·                 Councillor Jim McNally;

·                 Councillor Sam North.

 

In response to questions the Licensing Manager advised that:

 

·                 Some Council’s subsidised licensing fees and some did not carry out all of the statutory functions;

·                 NHDC now subsidised green taxi licence fees;

·                 Passenger vehicles of 9 passengers or more were not licensed through the Council;

·                 They were looking at producing trade newsletters;

·                 Consideration was being given to the introduction of risk rating of inspections;

·                 That the officer giving any pre-application advice would not be involved in the decision.

 

Members suggested:

 

·            Workshops on the Licensing Act could be provided as income generating events;

·            That the risk rating scheme regarding inspections be circulated to Members of this Committee before implementation.

 

Members were extremely pleased at the work being undertaken to inform taxi drivers of safeguarding issues.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(1)       That the report entitled Licensing Service Annual Report be noted;

 

(2)       That the Licensing Manager be requested to circulate the risk rating scheme for inspections to all Members of the Licensing and Appeals Committee prior to implementation.

 

REASON FOR DECISIONS: Section 8.2.3 of the Council Constitution requires the Full Committee to meet at least once per year and section 8.2.3 (d) requires the Committee ‘to receive an annual report on licensing activities including performance information’.

7.

INFORMATION NOTE - THE ROLE OF THE LICENSING AND APPEALS COMMITTEE pdf icon PDF 82 KB

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE LICENSING MANAGER

 

To facilitate preliminary discussions about the role of the Licensing and Appeals Committee and seek the views of its Members.

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED:

 

(1)       That the information note entitled The Role of the Licensing and Appeals Committee be noted;

 

(2)       That the following suggestions by Members be considered by the Licensing Manager:

(i)            Consider introducing taxi fare tariffs that discourage the use of vehicles with high fuel consumption;

(ii)          That Service Director Legal and Community be requested to consider an amendment to the constitution in that the Committee may meet more than once per year and that the Licensing Manager, in consultation with the Chairman of the Licensing and Appeals Committee, call meetings when necessary with a maximum of 4 meetings per annum.

Minutes:

Audio Recording – 57 minutes 50 seconds

 

The Licensing Manager presented the information note entitled Role of the Licensing and Appeals Committee together with the following appendices:

 

·                Appendix A - Applications under the Licensing Act 2003 reserved for a Licensing and Appeals Sub-Committee; 

·                Appendix B - Applications under the Gambling Act 2005 reserved for a Licensing and Appeals Sub-Committee.

 

The following Members asked questions and took part in the debate:

 

·                 Councillor Richard Thake;

·                 Councillor Sam North;

·                 Councillor Jim McNally;

·                 Councillor Mike Rice;

·                 Councillor Tom Tyson.

 

There was a detailed discussion regarding the number of meetings held each year.

 

Members made the following suggestions:

 

·                Consider introducing taxi fare tariffs that discourage the use of vehicles with high fuel consumption;

·                That the Committee meet more than once per year and that the Licensing Manager, in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee call meetings when necessary with a maximum of 4 meetings per annum.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(1)       That the information note entitled The Role of the Licensing and Appeals Committee be noted;

 

(2)       That the following suggestions by Members be considered by the Licensing Manager:

(i)            Consider introducing taxi fare tariffs that discourage the use of vehicles with high fuel consumption;

(ii)          That Service Director Legal and Community be requested to consider an amendment to the constitution in that the Committee may meet more than once per year and that the Licensing Manager, in consultation with the Chairman of the Licensing and Appeals Committee, call meetings when necessary with a maximum of 4 meetings per annum.

Audio Recording of Meeting MP3 73 MB