Agenda and minutes

The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Callender, Porter and Raby (with Councillor Bray substituting).

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on Thursday 18 February 2016.

The minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on Thursday 18 February 2016 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, or other interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were none.

The Committee is to receive and note, for information only, the above minutes.

The Committee received and noted, for information only, the minutes of the meetings of the Licensing (General Purposes) Sub-Committee held on 20 April 2016, 25 July 2016 and 18 August 2016.

The Committee is to receive and note, for information only, the above minutes.

The Committee received and noted, for information only, the minutes of the meetings of the Premises and Personal Licences Sub-Committee ‘A’ held on 17 June 2016 and 6 September 2016.

The Committee is to receive and note, for information only, the above minutes.

The Committee received and noted, for information only, the minutes of the meeting of the Premises and Personal Licences Sub-Committee ‘C’ held on 20 June 2016.

The Committee is asked to consider the results of the public consultation held to review the Council’s current seating capacity policy for Multi-Purpose Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicles which carry up to eight passengers and to determine what the Council’s future policy should be in regards to a permitted seating maximum for Multi-Purpose Vehicles (MPV’s) licensed as Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicles in Tendring.

The Committee had before it a report which asked it to consider the results of the public consultation held to review the Council’s Seating Capacity Policy for multi-purpose Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicles which carried up to 8 passengers and to determine what the Council’s future policy should be in regards to a permitted seating maximum for multi-purpose vehicles (MPV’s) licensed as Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicles in Tendring. 

It was reported that the Council’s Seating Capacity Policy had been introduced to sustain and promote passenger safety in licensed Taxi and Private Hire MPV’s by the Council’s Licensing (General Purposes) Sub-Committee following a consultation with the taxi trade in August 2002 and submissions from organisations such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

It was also reported that the review of the MPV Seating Capacity Policy had been recommended to the Licensing and Registration Committee because the policy had been in place since its introduction on 1 August 2003 and that there had been substantive changes since then to vehicle technology and safety which should be reviewed and taken into consideration.

Members were reminded that, at its meeting on 20 January 2016, the Committee had agreed to review Tendring District Council’s Seating Capacity Policy and to put the review out to the scrutiny of a twelve week comprehensive consultation.

The Licensing Manager informed Members that the twelve week consultation period had ended on 2 May 2016. Invitations to reply to the consultation had been sent out on 5 February 2016 to 321 licensed Taxi and Private Hire drivers, the Tendring District Taxi Association and amongst others, organisations such as Essex Fire and Rescue Service, the Department for Transport, Essex Police, RoSPA and a number of local and national mobility groups. A total of 336 invitations had been sent out.

Members were informed that the letters which had been sent out to the Taxi and Private Hire drivers had also been followed up with a taxi newsletter on 14 April. There had also been two press releases about the review and consultation which were sent out on 5 and 14 February and which had featured in the local newspaper. The press releases had advertised the seating review and had encouraged responses to the consultation from all interested parties including the travelling public and the taxi trade. The consultation had also been advertised on the taxi pages of the Council’s web site.

Members were also informed that the letters which had been sent out had asked for views on whether Tendring District Council’s MPV Seating Capacity Policy should remain in place, be withdrawn or be amended in any way. It had also asked for views on the policy agreed by Basildon Council with their Taxi and Private Hire trades as a possible alternative to Tendring’s MPV Seating Capacity Policy which in summary allowed MPV’s to retain all of their seating, but had built in passenger safety measures such as exit signage, yellow, or orange,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Committee is asked to consider the following resolution:

“That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Agenda Item 9 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A, as amended, of the Act.”

It was RESOLVED that, under Schedule 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Agenda item 9 on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A, as amended, of the Act.

The Committee is to receive and note, for information only, the above exempt minutes.

The Committee received and noted, for information only, the exempt minutes of the meetings of the Licensing (General Purposes) Sub-Committee held on 20 April 2016, 25 July 2016 and 18 August 2016.