Agenda and minutes

We received no apologies for absence

There were no declarations of interest. 

·         21^st July 2015

·         21^st July 2015 (subcommittee)

·         20^th August 2015 (subcommittee)

·         15^th September 2015

·         21^st September 2015 (subcommittee)

We confirmed and signed the following minutes of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee & Sub Committee:

• 21st July 2015
• 21st July 2015 (subcommittee)
• 20th August 2015 (subcommittee)
• 15th September 2015
• 21st September 2015 (subcommittee)

To consider whether to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 12 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act, having regard to the certificates prepared under Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 – Exemption From Disclosure of Documents (Proper Officer’s view attached).

We agreed to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business as it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information.

The Chairman welcomed the applicant to the meeting and introduced Members of the Committee and the attending Officers and explained the protocol for the meeting.

The applicant confirmed their name and address to the Committee and confirmed that they were content to proceed without legal representation.

The Principal Licensing Officer explained the procedure of the meeting to the applicant.

The Senior Licensing Officer presented a report which recommended that members consider and determine whether the applicant for a Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Drivers Licence was a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

The key issues and details of the application were read out to the Committee.

The applicant was then provided with the opportunity to address the Committee, to put forward any relevant explanations.  Following this, Members of the Committee put forward questions to the applicant and discussion ensued.

Following questioning, officers and the applicant left the meeting to allow the Committee the opportunity to deliberate and discuss the findings.

Upon re-commencement, the Chairman advised that the Committee had considered the application and had resolved that the licence would be suspended until required documentation presented to Officers, upon which Officers could reinstate license with immediate effect.

We received a report from the Head of, the purpose of which was inform Members of service delivery and performance across the Public Protection division, which comprises Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Licensing.

Members were invited to comment and ask questions, during discussion the following points were noted:

• It was suggested that FOI requests should be costed, as per pre-planning advice and we were advised that the Performance Monitoring Officer was currently looking at this.

• In respect of dog fouling, a Member asked what the cost of a dog licence was. An Officer advised that licence had been abolished in 1987, however the issue of reintroducing the licence had been raised with the Welsh Government to fund monitoring of fouling as per the recent Northern Ireland model.

• It was questioned by a Member if random taxi car checks still took place. It was answered that yes, the checks still took place, with one planned for December incorporating early morning breathalysing for school-run drivers.

• A Member noted three significant schemes which inevitably take up valuable Officer time, namely the Heads of the Valleys dualling, rail electrification and proposed M4 relief road. The Head of Community Protection advised that services had to be continually prioritised to keep up with the rising number of new service requests. An example was given, the ‘Give Dog Fouling the Red Card’ scheme, which gave Town & Community Councils more of a role in dealing with this matter, releasing some Environmental health capacity for other duties.

The Chair thanked the Head of Community Protection for bringing the report to the Committee.

We were given an overview presentation regarding Taxi Licensing from the Principal Licensing Officer.

We were also given a comprehensive presentation, including a case study, on the Safeguarding of Children and Vulnerable Adults from the Safeguarding Service Manager. We were advised by the Principal Licensing Officer how essential Safeguarding training will be for taxi drivers.

We discussed that an overview on Street Trading would be beneficial and look forward to receiving this at a future meeting.

Tuesday 15^th December 2015 at 10am

• Tuesday 15th December 2015 at 10am