Issue - meetings

To note the comment made to Cabinet by the Service Development and Delivery Committee at its meeting held on 1 June 2016.

That the contents of the report be noted.

It was reported that, at its meeting held on 1 June 2016, the Service Development and Delivery Committee had received from the Council’s Licencing Manager an overview of the scope of work that his team undertook and some background towards the relationship that they had with the many Licensees and other local authorities, such as Essex Police and Essex Trading Standards. The Chairman of the Service Development and Delivery Committee had invited licensees from both the taxi and alcohol related trades to attend in order to give a balanced view regarding the licensing service that the Council delivered.

During the discussions it was noted by representatives of the taxi trade that currently the Council only offered one day per week (Tuesday) whereby taxi drivers could take their vehicle to the garage services delivered by the Council at Northbourne Depot in order to get the prerequisite vehicle checks. It was also noted that sometimes the garage was very busy and that checks had to spill over until the following day. It was felt to be very important for taxi drivers, many of whom were self-employed, that they could keep their vehicle on the road. Dependant on timing a vehicle could sometimes not be used for more than a week whilst waiting for a slot to have a vehicle check especially where a vehicle was being changed for a new vehicle. This could have a big impact on the financial security of a taxi driver.

Following those discussions the Committee requested that the Licensing Manager explored the possibility of extending the number of days whereby taxi checks could be undertaken. The Committee also requested that the Cabinet note the following comments of the Committee that:

“(a) the Licencing General Purposes Sub-Committee is seeing less taxi drivers coming in front of them after being caught using their mobile phones whilst driving;

(b)    the relationship between the TDC Licencing team and Licensees is very good and that the service is seen as good value for money;

(c)    the Committee would investigate the possibility of a working party being set up to explore the safety of taxi drivers which would mean liaising with Community Safety; and

(d)   the presentation had been excellent and very informative on a very complex subject.”

Having considered the comments of the Service Development and Delivery Committee:-

It was moved by Councillor Stock, seconded by Councillor Ferguson and RESOLVED that the contents of the report be noted.