Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - 3rd Floor - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Linda Banbury, Democratic Support Officer  Tel; 01902 555040 Email:  linda.banbury@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

An apology for absence was submitted on behalf of Councillor Inston.

2.

Declarations of interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

3.

Minutes of previous meeting pdf icon PDF 73 KB

(a)  Meeting, 3 June 2015 [for approval]

(b)  Sub-Committee – meetings, 10 June, 1 July and 10 July 2015 [for approval and adoption]

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Resolved:

a)    That the minutes of the meeting held on 3 June 2015 be approved as a correct record.

b)    That the minutes of the meetings of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 10 June, 1 July and 10 July 2015 be approved as a correct record and adopted.

4.

Matters arising

[To consider as necessary]

Minutes:

There were no matters arising from the previous minutes.

5.

Schedule of outstanding minutes pdf icon PDF 59 KB

Minutes:

It was noted that item 4 (Private Hire Vehicle Roof Signs) was included in agenda item 6 on the agenda for this meeting.

 

Attention was drawn to Operation Riposte on 17 July 2015, which saw council and police officers swoop on shops in the Whitmore Reans area of the city and seize an extensive haul of potentially lethal fake cigarettes and alcohol.  The operation will be on going, acting on community intelligence to target this illegal trade.

 

Resolved:

            That the report be received.

6.

Proposed revisions to Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle, Driver and Operator Criteria pdf icon PDF 90 KB

[To inform Committee of the Deregulation Act 2015 and its impact on the private hire licensing regime and to endorse the proposals to revise the existing criteria, fees and training programme]

Minutes:

The Licensing Manager presented the report, which informed Committee of the Deregulation Act 2015 and its impact on the private hire licensing regime. The report sought endorsement of proposals to revise the existing hackney carriage and private hire drive, vehicle and operator criteria, fees and training programme.

 

N Caley (ABC Countdown) and J Sharma (Wednesfield Radio Cars) were in attendance for this item.  They acknowledged the close working relationship between the Council and taxi trade over recent years and welcomed the proposal to remove roof signs. Mr Caley suggested that this particular aspect of the proposals be implemented with effect from 1 January 2016 to give time to introduce the change.

Resolved:

1.    That the implementation of the revised private hire vehicle criteria be approved and endorsed.

2.    That the revised driver training programme for private hire drivers be approved and endorsed.

3.    That the introduction of the three year driver and five year operator licences, resulting from the Deregulation Act 2015, be noted.

4.    That the proposed five year operators fees, detailed at section 3.3.3 of the report, be approved.

5.    That the proposal to explore flexible payment options for driver, vehicle and operator licence fees be endorsed.

6.    That the removal of the minimum engine size requirement for private hire vehicles be approved.

 

 

7.

Health and Safety Statutory Plan 2015/16 pdf icon PDF 202 KB

[To approve the Plan]

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Section Leader, Environmental Health, presented the report, which informed the Committee of the legal requirement to produce the plan and the restructure of Regulatory Services in October 2014 and the reduction in resources allocated to the delivery of the Health and Safety service.

Resolved:

            That the Health and Safety Statutory Plan for 2015/16 be approved.

 

8.

Exclusion of press and public

To pass the following resolution:

That, in accordance with Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within paragraph 7 of Schedule 12A to the Act relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime.

Minutes:

Resolved:

            That, in accordance with Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within paragraph 7 of Schedule 12A to the Act relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime.

9.

Minutes of previous meeting

Sub-Committee meeting, 10 June 2015 [for approval and adoption]

Minutes:

The Section Leader (Licensing) advised that the Premises Licence Holder had submitted an appeal to the Magistrates’ Court in regard to the decision to revoke the premises licence and that a pre-trial hearing was due to take place the following week.

Resolved:

            That the minutes of the meeting of the Sub-Committee held on 10 June 2015 be approved as a correct record and adopted.