Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies.

Apologies were received from Councillor Hewitt.  Councillor Moss was substituting for Councillor Hewitt.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2014 (copy attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2014 were presented to the Committee.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 17 March 2014 be approved and signed as a correct record.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

1.            Timeline proposal for one tariff consultation for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire operators

Environment Services will commence a consultation exercise during summer 2014 and report the findings to the Licensing Committee with the intention to roll out new tariff in January/February 2015.

This proposal is to complete another round of trade consultation based on three different proposed tariffs following feedback from previous consultation.

Feedback will be tabled at the September/October 2014 Licensing Committee.  If approval for one preferred tariff is agreed consultation must go to area boards as well as paper advert to announce proposals.

If we receive objections, we will seek further committee approval, if no objections are received within the 14 day consultation period the new Tariff will come into force on the specified date.

Once completed this will enable Wiltshire Council to introduce one regulatory zone for the whole Council area, charging from a single maximum table of fares (tariff).

2.            Workload of the Licensing Team

Licensingtransactionsfrom1 January– 31March2014 are detailed below.  Transactions are increasing month on month.  Two of the existing Licensing Officer vacancies have been appointed to but these appointments were from existing staff so there is a bit more capacity but no extra staff.  Another staff member is on sick leave.

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 above 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 above no later than 5pm on 17 April 2014.

Please contact the officer named on the first page 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 prior to the meeting and there were no members of the public present.

To receive the minutes of the following Licensing Sub Committees:

The draft Minutes of all Licensing Sub Committees between 17 January and 20 March 2014 were presented for consideration.

Resolved:

To approve the minutes of the following Licensing Sub Committee meetings:

Northern Area

14/03/14        Application for a Premises Licence - Abbey Food City, 4               Market Cross, Malmesbury

Appeal Against Refusal of Street Trading Consent

20/03/14        Appeal of Mr Balasooriya against a Street Trading Consent                     decision

The Committee noted that the Licensing Sub Committee that had heard the street trading appeal on 20 March 2014 had recommended that there be a review of the street trading policy. Councillor Allen requested that, in light of the issues raised in that appeal, Officers should conduct a review of the Council’s Street Trading Policy and Procedure.   In particular, the review should look at the relationship between Wiltshire Council’s policy and the policies adopted by  the town councils in respect of street trading and markets.

It was agreed that Officers would carry out a review and report back to a future meeting of the Licensing Committee.

The report of the Public Protection Team Leader (Licensing) is to providebackground informationconcerningthe new proposed StatementofLicensingPolicy and to recommend that theLicensingCommittee request officers to carry out a full consultation of the proposed Statement of Licensing Policy.   (The draft proposed Statement of Licensing Policy will be to follow.)

Linda Holland (Public Protection Team Leader) presented a report which provided background information concerning the new proposed Statement of Licensing Policy and requested that the Committee approve the draft Policy and instruct officers to carry out a full 12 week consultation process.

A Councillor raised a query about the possibility of CCTV provision in Salisbury being cut.  Peter White (Enforcement Manager) agreed to respond directly to the Councillor outside of the meeting regarding this.

Committee members requested a number of minor amendments/corrections of typographical errors within the draft and Linda Holland agreed that these changes and the firming up of some of the statements in the policy would be made prior to the consultation commencing in early May 2014.

Members felt it was important to state in the Policy where the public could find further information about the latest initiatives and supporting documents and refer them to the Council’s website for this information.  It was agreed that this would be included within the introduction/forward of the Policy.

The final policy would then be brought back to the Committee at its 8 September meeting for approval and then would request that Council adopt the new Statement of Licensing Policy for 2014/18.

Councillor Hutton (Portfolio Holder) wished to express his thanks to all Officers for the work undertaken in preparing this draft Policy.  He said that community engagement is a priority and encouragement is given to licensees to attend pub watch schemes and interact with their communities.

Naji Darwish (Head of Service – Public Protection) reminded the Committee that further comments on the Policy will be welcomed within the formal consultation and Members agreed to encourage Town/Parish Councils and Area Boards to take part in the consultation.

Resolved:

That Officers will make the minor amendments/additions to the Policy as requested at this meeting and then commence a 12 week consultation process on the proposed Statement of Licensing Policy 2014/2018.

The report of the Associate Director, Waste and Environment, recommends a number of changes to the hackney carriage and private hire vehicle licensing policy conditions for approval by the Committee.

Andrew Saxton (Fleet Services Manager) presented a report which recommended a number of changes to the hackney carriage and private hire vehicle licensing policy conditions and enforcement penalty points scheme.

The proposed changes will help Council Officers and hackney and private hire operators to better understand the policy requirements and ensure that drivers and their vehicles are compliant with the conditions set out in the guidance.  The changes had been well received by the trade.

He advised the Committee that item 26 on the offences list should be amended to read as follows:

Councillor Hutton (Portfolio Holder) wished to thank Officers for their work with this exercise and was happy with the engagement with the trade on the issues.

A Member asked if the public are aware of the penalty points scheme and how to “whistle blow” if they come across any problems with drivers/vehicles, etc.  Officers confirmed that there is a process that can be followed but agreed that it perhaps could be made more obvious and include details about it on the Council’s website.

Members acknowledged the proposed introduction of a minimum tyre tread depth of 1.8mm and suggested that as current guidance recommends that a depth of 3mm vastly improves braking distances at 60mph we could also “recommend” this to our drivers/operators.  Andrew Saxton agreed to include this.

A Member reported a problem of taxi drivers continually parking on double yellow lines whilst waiting to join the taxi rank particularly in Chippenham and Andrew agreed that something could be added to remind them that in doing this they are in breach of their licence and regular infringements may result in penalty points being issued.

It was noted that within the Penalty Points scheme no mention is made of the possibility of revocation of a licence if 12 points are reached within a 12 month period.  It was agreed that this would be amended to include this.

Resolved:

That the Licensing Committee

1.            Agree the changes wording of vehicle conditions regarding fire extinguishers, tinted windows for hackney carriages, increase minimum tyre depth and remove requirements for an MOT on brand new vehicles as detailed in the report and as specified by the Committee at the meeting.

2.            Agree the changes to the enforcement penalty points system as detailed in the report and as specified by the Committee at the meeting.

Members are asked to note the future meetings of the Licensing Committee, all to commence at 10.30am and to be held in the Kennet Room, 1^st Floor, County Hall, Trowbridge:

Monday 2 June 2014

Monday 8 September 2014

Monday 8 December 2014.

Members noted the dates of future meetings of the Licensing Committee as detailed below, all to start at 10.30am:

·         Monday 2 June 2014

·         Monday 8 September 2014

·         Monday 8 December 2014.

There were no urgent items.