Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies and details of any substitutions.

Apologies were received from Cllrs Andrew Davis, and Pip Ridout and from Tom Ince (Principal Compliance Officer).

Cllr Nic Puntis was substituting for Cllr Pip Ridout.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2022 (copy attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2022 were presented to the Committee.

Resolved:
That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2022 be approved and signed as a correct record.

The Chairman gave details of the fire exits to be used in the event of the alarm sounding and made the following announcements:

Sarah Marshall (Principal Solicitor) would be leaving the Council in early January 2023.  The Committee wished to record their thanks for her support and wished her well for her new role.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution.

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on Monday 10 October 2022 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response, questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on Wednesday 12 October 2022.  Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

No questions had been submitted to the Committee from the public prior to the meeting.

To receive an update on any appeals lodged against Licensing Sub Committee decisions.

Sarah Marshall (Principal Solicitor) reported that there was one appeal technically still in progress with the Magistrates Court which had been with the court for a long period of time.  There has been no formal notification to the Council from the court and she did not think it was a concern at this stage for the Licensing Committee.  If  there was anything to report in future on this appeal, this would be shared with the Licensing Committee.

To receive and sign the minutes of the following Licensing Sub Committees:

Eastern Area

08.03.22         Application for a Variation of a Premise Licence at The Crown                       Inn, Chandlers Lane, Bishops Cannings, Devizes

18.08.22         Application for a Premises Licence – Kaleidoscope Arts and                          Music Festival, unnamed field, Lower Road, Erlestoke, Devizes

Northern Area

30.11.21         Application for a Variation of a Premises Licence - The Pear                          Tree, Purton, Swindon

Southern Area

11.10.21         Application for a Variation of a Premises Licence – Tinga, 4a-4b,                  Endless Street, Salisbury

26.01.22         Review of a Premises Licence – The New Inn, 10-16 High                             Street, Amesbury – TO FOLLOW

31.03.22         Application for a Premises Licence – The New Inn, 10-16 High                     Street, Amesbury - TO FOLLOW

03.08.22         Application for a Premises Licence – West Barn Lodge, Fovant,                   Salisbury

06.09.22         Application for a Variation of a Premises Licence – The Chapel, 34 Milford Street, Salisbury – TO FOLLOW

Western Area

07.02.22         Application for a Temporary Event Notice – Trowbridge Cricket                     Club, 20 Lower Court, Trowbridge

The following minutes of the Licensing Sub Committees were presented to the Licensing Committee:

Eastern Area
08.03.22         Application for a Variation of a Premise Licence at The Crown                       Inn, Chandlers Lane, Bishops Cannings, Devizes

18.08.22         Application for a Premises Licence – Kaleidoscope Arts and                          Music Festival, unnamed field, Lower Road, Erlestoke, Devizes

Northern Area
30.11.21         Application for a Variation of a Premises Licence - The Pear                          Tree, Purton, Swindon

Southern Area

11.10.21         Application for a Variation of a Premises Licence – Tinga, 4a-4b,                  Endless Street, Salisbury

26.01.22         Review of a Premises Licence – The New Inn, 10-16 High                             Street, Amesbury

31.03.22         Application for a Premises Licence – The New Inn, 10-16 High                     Street, Amesbury

03.08.22         Application for a Premises Licence – West Barn Lodge, Fovant,                   Salisbury

06.09.22         Application for a Variation of a Premises Licence – The Chapel,                   34 Milford Street, Salisbury

Western Area

07.02.22         Application for a Temporary Event Notice – Trowbridge Cricket                     Club, 20 Lower Court, Trowbridge

Resolved:

That the above Licensing Sub Committee minutes be approved and signed as a correct record.

Linda Holland (Licensing Manager will give an update/overview on behalf of the Licensing Team to the Committee, the update is attached.

Linda Holland (Licensing Manager – Public Protection) referred to the update circulated with the Agenda and highlighted the following:

• Whilst the team had been very busy over the summer, there had been no significant incidents.  Officers were however, receiving complaints and concerns being expressed about licensable activities, music events and noise from licenced premises;

• Advice was being given to premises in light of the forthcoming football World Cup on how to manage customers and those that may need to use Temporary Event Notices (TENS) to ensure they can stay open for other festive events over the Christmas and new year period;

• Other concerns were also being raised by residents related to parking and the Noise Team were involved with noise complaints having advise on management of noise breakout from some premises;

• Animal licensing continues to be busy, and they were just coming to the end of the 3 year licence for some premises and so there would be the next round of renewals taking place;

• A briefing report would be brought to the next meeting of the Licensing Committee to update the members on the revisions made to licence conditions that are applied to premises holding Dangerous Wild Animal licences.

• A report would also be brought to seek to modify the procedure for film classifications.  Currently when a film does not have a classification these have to be classified by a Sub Committee,  Officers are seeking the views of the Committee today as to whether they would agree that this could be delegated to Officers with any appeal of the decision being referred to the Licensing Sub Committee;

After a brief discussion it was agreed that the Committee would be happy to receive a report which sought agreement to delegate the classification of films to Officers, with an appeals process to the Licensing Sub Committee if the Applicant did not agree with the classification.  Linda Holland confirmed that she would bring a report to the next meeting of the Committee on 5 December 2022.

The Chairman suggested that following the problems that were being reported by residents in relation to some premises with noise and parking etc that it might be a good idea to recirculate the Statement of Licensing Policy and to encourage Applicants to work with their town/parish Councils and local community groups when they were making an application to keep them informed of the plans and to reassure what measures they would be taking to address any potential problems.  Linda Holland stated that this could be done and that they were also looking at reviewing their “guide to licensees” document that could be shared with those concerned.

The Vice Chair thanked acknowledged the amount of work done by the small team and wished to thank them for all that they do.  She noted that there was now a distinct lack of tolerance for premises that create problems for their local neighbours and that following Covid and the leeway that was given they are no longer tolerant and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

Tom Ince (Principal Compliance Officer) has prepared the attached Taxi Licensing update as at June 2022. 

Peter White (Enforcement Manager) referred to the taxi licencing report for June 2022 circulated with the Agenda and highlighted the following:

• Tom Ince would be returning to work following his operation later this week;

• Driver numbers had stabilised over 2022 with the team seeing a recovery in numbers of new applicants and levels were back to those seen pre pandemic with 15 new licence applications and 111 renewals during June 2022;

• The processing team were working well although there had been some resource challenges due to sickness and the use of the temporary work bank is being investigated to support the team;

• The number of Hackney Carriage drivers fell by 7 compared to the previous month;

• The team continue to proactively enforce the Council’s policies in relation to taxi licensing and penalty points were issued on 6 occasions during June 2022;

The Chairman asked if there was an indication of involvement by Uber in Wiltshire and reported that in Chippenham, they had seen more taxis from outside of the County in the area and asked if Officers were in a dialogue with other Councils reminding them that their taxis cannot work on Wiltshire ranks.  Peter White reported that she would seek an update from his Compliance Officers on those issues.

A Committee member was aware of the lack of taxis available in Chippenham and gave an example of an elderly couple finding it difficult to get a taxi to their flu vaccination appointment in Corsham.  He asked if there were any issues with taxis in the area and if there was a need to encourage more taxi drivers for the area and how we might do that?

The Vice Chair reported that a Wiltshire wide recruitment campaign had been running now for a number of months and they were highlighting the role of a driving being a good career choice with a number of Wiltshire Council contracts available in the hope to draw in more drivers.  She reminded that residents could use their community transport/link scheme to seek assistances in transport for appointments.  Any further ideas on how to help with the improvement would be welcomed – it had been circulated via Area Board and social media etc.

A Committee member suggested that it would be useful to know what the ideal number of drivers/taxis would be to be able to balance the supply and demand. The reporting of specific incidences in areas is useful and the Chairman asked for details to come to the next meeting of the latest figures for drivers.

A Committee member stated that in these difficult times, some now just cannot afford to run a car and with the costs of fuel and insurance etc rising that is likely to add to the demand for taxis, and taxis will want in increase in order for their business to be viable and continue providing the services to the public.

A Committee member stated that whilst Uber do not have direct services in Wiltshire as yet, they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 60.

Adrian Weissenbruch (SEND and Passenger Assistant Transport Manager) has prepared a brief update on the current fulfilment of Passenger Transport Unit Contracts. 

Adrian Weissenbruch (SEND and Passenger Assistant Transport Manager) referred to the update  on  the  current  fulfilment  of  Passenger  Transport  Unit Contracts and highlighted the following:

·         There were now currently 22 students without transport to education settings due lack of drivers/licenced vehicles;

·         Officers were continuing to receive no bids for some contracts put out to tender and they had been notified that one operator would be handing back 5 contracts between now and Easter due to drivers leaving;

·         Growth in demand for transport continues and Officers were expecting 201 students to require transport by September 2023;

·         Whilst the current advertising campaign had shown lots of interest with over 25 enquiries being received in the Passenger Transport Team, they would need to check if those had converted into applications from the Taxi Licensing Team;

·         The team were introducing a new Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) to enable providers to bid on Wiltshire Council contracts and they were currently doing a big push to invite suppliers to bid on contracts this way;

The Chairman asked if they were looking at trends, particularly considering the five contracts known to be being returned?  Adrian Weissenbruch reported that the 5 contracts being returned where due to driver’s retiring and those operators not being able to recruit new drivers to replace them.  Officers would continue to look at trends but reported that they would need to issue a specific survey for particularly enquiries and whilst they may be successful in recruiting new drivers, drivers are continuing to leave so that the actual numbers don’t go up.  In the survey they would look at what might be appealing in the industry to attract them in and then look at changing their strategies to accommodate that.

The Chairman asked if there would be any follow up to the queries received that did not progress into an application as he felt it would be useful to find out what was the barrier to them not applying and what we could do about that in the future.

Jason Salter (Head of Service – Passenger Transport) reported that he had produced a questionnaire for drivers/operators and would talk to Adrian Hampton and his team around this when it had received the appropriate Communications and Cabinet sign off.

A Committee member asked what would be the next plan if you they were not able to get more drivers to take on the Wiltshire contracts?  Jason Salter reported that they would need to consider a blend of different things.  Some of the contract services could come in house where the Council provides drivers for contract work, but they would still need to find the drivers themselves for those roles but it may be that the Council’s terms and conditions may be more attractive than external companies.  They would also look at ways to encourage parents to provide more transport themselves.  It was often more cost effective for parents to provide transport with the Council paying parents to provide this.  Officers would be looking at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

The attached update has been prepared on Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAV) as requested by the Committee.

An update on Wheelchair Accessible vehicles (WAV) had been circulated with the Agenda and Adrian Hampton (Head of Highway Operations) gave the following update:

• There is a challenge at the present time with the availability of WAV and Officers had to consider balancing the needs of users and the challenges on those in the industry;

• In Wiltshire as at the end of September 2022 there were 101 WAV vehicles which equated to 13.2% of the fleet.  30% of private hire vehicles in Wiltshire are WAV but only 6% of those are Hackney Carriages; and

• Wiltshire currently operate a policy for operators that 1 in every 10 vehicles  must be WAV but there was a small number of other authorities that had a 1 in 5 requirement.  Any change in Wiltshire’s policy would need careful consideration but it was felt that this did require more investigation and a deeper dive.  It was proposed that this be looked at as part of an annual review to ensure that Wiltshire remains compliant and if there were to be a change in policy proposed there would need to be evidence to support this.

The Vice Chairman felt that whilst the level of WAV’s may not be a problem at the current time – an approach on how to tackle the lack of WAV could be had with discussions with organisations who represent those with disabilities such as the Centre for Independent Living as they would know if people were struggling to get around and find suitable transportation.  We need to ensure that they and others know to raise complaints when they have been unable to get suitable transport and perhaps, we could link in with those organisations to work out a suitable strategy and then report back to the Committee on the progress of this.

A Committee member also expressed that there was a need for vehicles to be able to carry wheelchairs and mobility scooters in vehicles too.

Adrian Weissenbruch reported that as the Passenger Transport Unit was the biggest customer for taxis, they were aware of how difficult it was to obtain WAV’s and that they were difficult to purchase – they were in a position that they were not able to provide transport to some students due to the lack of availability of WAV.

Resolved:

1. That the Committee notes the update on the provision of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAV).

2. That Officers prepare an annual report based on a needs assessment of WAV for Wiltshire.

3. That an update be presented to the Licensing Committee in June 2023 on the provision of WAV and any strategies and plans to improve the provision.

The report seeks to provide the Licensing Committee with the relevant information to make an informed decision on allowing the Taxi Licensing Team to implement a single licensing zone for Hackney Carriages within the Wiltshire Council area. 

The report attached to the Agenda sought to provide the Licensing Committee with the relevant information to make an informed decision on authorising the Taxi Licensing Team to implement a single licensing zone for Hackney Carriages within the Wiltshire Council area.  Adrian Hampton (Head of Highway Operations) highlighted the following:

• Hackney Carriages can pick up passengers from a rank or the street without being pre-booked.  They are currently licenced for a specific zone and cannot pick up a fare outside of their zone, unless it is pre-booked.  Private hire vehicles licensed in Wiltshire can operate anywhere in the county as their work is pre-booked and they are not restricted by zone, however they are not permitted to pick up off ranks or be flagged down in the street;

• The existing zones in Wiltshire are geographically placed in the North, East, South and West reflecting the old district council zones. The Council has a legal obligation to offer vehicle owners an inspection at a location within their zone. This means that the Council is currently operating four workshops to facilitate taxi licensing. These workshops are located at Riverway Depot - Trowbridge, Kennet House Depot - Devizes, Parsonage Way Depot - Chippenham and Churchfields Depot - Salisbury. The Riverway and Parsonage Way workshops have been temporally closed due to infrastructure issues. Both workshops will require investment if they are to reopen;

• On 7 March 2022 the Licensing Committee gave approval for a consultation with the industry on proposals to create a single licensing zone for hackney carriages in the Wiltshire Council area:

• Response rates were very low with only 34 responses being received;

• There were some issues with regards to the depots – there were structural issues at the Riverway depot in Trowbridge and an inoperable inspection ramp, The current inspection facilities at the Parsonage Way depot in Chippenham are unavailable due to the site being changed to a salt store and the Churchfields depot was currently struggling with roof issues.  The Kennet House in Devizes workshop has been refurbished as part of the Council’s Fleet and Depot strategies and is available to take on all of the taxi licensing work;

• There were not many financial savings associated with this proposal and there would be a one of cost with the implementation of a single zone to advertise the changes at a cost of approximately £5,000.  If this proposal was not implemented that would need to be a major investment in the other depots and investment has yet to be secured for 2 of the other depot sites;

• The introduction of a single zone covering the whole of Wiltshire would see an alignment of all taxi licensing services in a central location and this would support the Council’s efficiency of fleet and taxi inspections, avoid the cost of depot repairs, allow taxis to not travel back empty from across the county and therefore increase their revenue and would also along with the Council’s carbon reduction commitment; and

• The Churchfields depot is to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

Adrian Hampton (Head of Highway Operations) has produced a briefing note which informs the Licensing Committee of the feedback resulting from the consultation undertaken on the proposal to increase Tariff 1 by 10% for Hackney Carriages in Wiltshire following significant fuel price rises during 2022.

Adrian Hampton (Head of Highway Operations) referred to the briefing note circulated with the Agenda which sought to brief the Committee on the feedback resulting from the consultation undertaken on the proposal to increase Tariff 1 by 10% for Hackney Carriages in Wiltshire following significant fuel prices rises during 2022 and highlighted the following:

• The Licensing Committee granted the Taxi Licensing team the  authority to implement a 10% increase at the meeting on 20 June 2022 with any rise greater than 10% being referred back to the Committee;

• The level of feedback was low despite drivers and vehicle owners being emailed directly.  A total of 32 responses were received from 674 licence holders;

• Of the 32 responses 53% supported the proposal for a 10% increase to tariff1, 41% were against, 6% put forward no opinion, only feedback. It was noted that the 32 responses represented 5% of all hackney carriage drivers which was a disappointing response;

• The Committee had asked for ideas on how it could support the industry through the current economic difficulties and some of the ideas suggested included: removing the tinted window restriction for vehicles, reducing licensing fees, allowing older vehicles to be licenced, ensuring there is an annual fare review, increase school contract prices to a level where they allow us to recover costs and introduce a £50, 1 year starter licence to encourage drivers into the trade;

• There was only one objection received following the advertisement of the 10% increase for tariff 1 in taxis and the implementation was deferred whilst this objection was considered;

• The tables at paragraph 3.12 of the report detailed the objections received and the Officer comments.  Give the low response rates it was very hard to draw conclusions.  Drivers were fairly evenly split with 53% of respondents supporting the proposal;

• The most commented issues appeared to be that the increase should be larger, that tariff 2 should be included and that school contract fees should be raised to allow drivers to cover that cost;

• Respondents also cited the fact that meters had only just been updated in January 2022 and suggested that the Council cover the cost of this.  The cost of approximately £18,865 was not budgeted for and therefore this would not be an option for the Council;

• The proposal had been approved by the Head of Service – Highway Operations and the relevant Director and Cabinet Member;

• Officers would be undertaking a benchmarking exercise in relation to the removal of the tinted window restriction and the introduction of a one year licence and would look to do that by 1 April 2023; and

• The Officers had been empowered to make the decision and were asking the committee to note the decision to be made.

A Committee member noted the disappointing engagement rate and wondered what could be done to increase this and look at other ways to engage with the trade. 

The Chairman commented that he used to chair the taxi meetings and that it was an aspiration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

Members are asked to note the future meetings of the Licensing Committee, all to commence at 10.30am:

5 December 2022

6 March 2023.

Members noted the future meetings of the Licensing Committee, all to commence at 10.30am:

5 December 2022

6 March 2023.

There were no urgent items.