Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on Wednesday 7 June 2023.

It was moved by Councillor Cox and seconded by Councillor Marlow, that the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 7 June 2023 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. After being put to the meeting and a vote taken the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that the Minutes of the Committee meeting held on 7 June 2023 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive the Minutes of the Licensing Sub-Committee meetings held on 22 May, 6 June, 14 August, 22 August, and 12 September 2023.

The Committee received the minutes from the Licensing Sub-Committee meetings held on 22 May, 6 June, 14 August, 22 August and 12 September 2023.

The Chairman welcomed all to the meeting. She said that a Members briefing was to be organised to provide training on how the application process works and the handling of Licensing complaints from constituents.  

To receive any Members’ declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager introduced his report and outlined that the key purpose of the hackney carriage and private hire licensing regimes was to ensure public safety. He said that the proposed policy to mandate card payment facilities in all licensed vehicles would help ensure that people would be able to pay for a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle and get home safely. He therefore asked that the members of the Licensing Committee scrutinise the consultation responses and the draft Policy.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager said that the East Herts licensed trade were surveyed regarding the use of card payment facilities in March 2023. He said that 97 responses were received and 95% of the respondents already operated card payment facilities. He drew Members’ attention to the survey results contained in Appendix A of the report.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager said that the licensed trade were formally consulted in May 2023 regarding the Policy to mandate the provision of card payment facilities.  He said that the consultation document included the proposed wording for the Policy and a link to an online survey to respond. He said that when the survey closed on 31 May 2023, 34 responses had been received, and drew Members’ attention to the consultation wording and responses at Appendix B of the report.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager said that several possible issues with the Policy were raised in the responses, and these are addressed at paragraph 3.6 of the report. He said that in addition to the online survey responses, 2 licensed drivers sent in additional emails which raised the four points shown at paragraph 3.9 of the report. He drew Members’ attention to these emails which could be seen in Appendix C of the report and raised similar issues to those addressed in paragraph 3.6.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager said that overall, 76% of the responses to the formal consultation were supportive of the Policy and that 94% already had card facilities. He said that this was a very similar figure to that found through the informal survey.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager advised Members that the final proposed wording for the policy was amended following the consultation, and that this could be found at Appendix D of the report. He said that where the Policy, if implemented, would require changes to other parts of the existing Policies this was also highlighted in Appendix D. He said that the Licensing Committee’s comments will be passed to the Executive Member for Planning and Growth for her consideration prior to a report going to the Executive.

Councillor Marlow said that he was generally in favour of the policy, and asked if it could be legislated that fares could still be paid in cash should a passenger wish.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager said that this was possible.

Councillor Willcocks asked if a working card payment machine would be included in a taxi vehicle check.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 200.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager introduced the report which gave Members oversight of the Licensing activity for Quarters 1 and 2 of 2023. He said that all complaints received by the Licensing Department were detailed within the report, which also showed monitoring against performance indicators that the Department constantly met.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager drew Members’ attention to Appendix A of the report which gave detail on decision making, policy and project work and Appendix B of the report which gave year-on-year comparison figures. 

Councillor Deffley asked if it was normal for no Licensing Record Points (LRP) to have been issued to taxi drivers within the period.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager said that generally some points would be issued, but in some circumstances alternative resolutions had been applied, as detailed in the report. He said that due to the number of festivals which had taken place over the period, Enforcement Officers had not spent so much time out on the taxi ranks. He said that on average it would be expected that approximately 3% of the trade would be issued LRP over the quarter.  

Councillor Smith referred to paragraph 3.5 of the report and asked how out of hours Licensing Enforcement was being managed with limited resources.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager said that there was currently one vacancy within the Enforcement Team. He said that he would like to have more officers, but enforcement was not a statutory function and that the current level of enforcement being carried out meant that there was no increased risk to public safety.

Councillor Dunlop referred to page 87 of the report and asked if there was a reason for the decrease in dual driver taxi renewal applications.

The Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager said that the cycle for such renewal applications was previously every three  years and was now annually[KM1] . He said that there were therefore fewer renewals, but no less drivers. He cited page 89 of the report which detailed the increase to the 212 dual drivers who were licenced as of September 2023. 

The Chairman thanked the Licensing and Enforcement Service Manager for his report.

It was proposed by Councillor Dunlop and seconded by Councillor Smith that the recommendations, as detailed, be approved. After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED - that members review and comment on the Licensing activity from the first and second quarters of the 2023 financial year (01 April 2023 – 30 June 2023 and 01 July 2023 – 30 September 2023)

To consider such other business as, in the opinion of the Chairman of the meeting, is of sufficient urgency to warrant consideration and is not likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information.

There were no urgent items.