Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Suite, North Warehouse, The Docks, Gloucester, GL1 2EP. View directions

Contact: Democratic and Electoral Services 

Items
No. Item

1.

Appointment of Chair and Vice-Chair

To confirm the appointments made at the Annual Meeting of Council of Councillor Walford as Chair and Councillor Brooker as Vice-Chair of the Committee.

Minutes:

Councillor Walford was confirmed as Chair of the committee.

 

The appointment of Vice-Chair is deferred following the Chair proposing and the committee agreeing that further discussions should be held.

2.

Declarations of Interest

To receive from Members, declarations of the existence of any disclosable pecuniary, or non-pecuniary, interests and the nature of those interests in relation to any agenda item. Please see Agenda Notes.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 140 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on the 16th March, 2021.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on the 16th March 2021 were confirmed and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

4.

Minutes of Licensing Sub-Committees pdf icon PDF 346 KB

To receive the minutes of the following meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee:-

 

·       Thursday 1st April 2021

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on the 1st April 2021 were received.

5.

Minutes of Licensing and Enforcement Sub-Committees

Members are requested to indicate whether they wish to discuss the exempt minutes listed at agenda item 12.  If so, it will be necessary to resolve to exclude the Press and Public and circulate the exempt minutes prior to any discussion of the exempt minutes listed at agenda item 12.    

 

 

Should no Member wish to discuss the minutes, the Committee are invited to resolve to receive the exempt minutes without discussion.

Minutes:

No member indicated that they wished to discuss the content of the exempt minutes. Therefore, it was not necessary to exclude the press and public.

 

RESOLVED that the exempt minutes of the Licensing and Enforcement sub-committee held on the  23rd March, 2021 were received.

6.

Public Question Time (15 minutes)

To receive any questions from members of the public provided that a question does not relate to:

 

·         Matters which are the subject of current or pending legal proceedings, or

·         Matters relating to employees or former employees of the Council or comments in respect of individual Council Officers

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

7.

Petitions and Deputations (15 minutes, maximum 3 minutes per person)

To receive any petitions and deputations provided that no such petition or deputation is in relation to:

 

·         Matters relating to individual Council Officers, or

·         Matters relating to current or pending legal proceedings

Minutes:

There were no petitions or deputations.

8.

Taxi Tariff pdf icon PDF 259 KB

To receive the report of the Head of Communities. The report outlines to members a proposal submitted by Gloucester Hackney Carriage Association (GHCA) for an increase to the current Hackney Carriage tariff.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Licensing Team leader read a statement which summarised the contents of the report of the Head of Communities. The report outlined to members a proposal submitted by Gloucester Hackney Carriage Association (GHCA) for an increase to the current Hackney Carriage tariff.

 

Councillor Bowkett asked how the proposed 6.5% increase to the Hackney Carriage tariff had been calculated.

 

Through the Chair, a local driver and member of the Gloucester Hackney Carriage Association (GCHA) replied that the previous increase in tariff had taken place in 2017. He stated that if the proposed increase had been entirely based of inflation rates, the proposed increase would come to 8-10% but that 6.5% was agreed to be a good compromise. He stated that other drivers in the trade had been consulted on the proposed 6.5% increase and approximately 70% of those who responded had agreed that it was a sensible compromise. He stated that the increase of 6.5% would keep rates below that of Cheltenham and Stroud. He added that in January 2020, the GHCA had proposed an increase to taxi tariffs but that owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was agreed to halt the proposed increase. He stated that he and other drivers in the trade were confident that the 6.5% increase would mean that they could offer customers a good service for a fair price.

 

 

RESOLVED that the proposed increase to the Hackney Carriage tariff is advertised as a public notice in accordance with the requirements of Section 65, Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

 

AND

 

If no objections are received from the public within 14 days of publication of the notice that the proposed tariff will come into effect from 1st August 2021.

 

OR

 

If objections are received within the 14 days, then the matter will be considered further at the September meeting of the Licensing and Enforcement Committee.

9.

Quarterly Update pdf icon PDF 152 KB

To receive the report of the Head of Communities, which outlines to members, details of key Licensing Activities carried out from 1 March 2021 to 25 May 2021, including applications and service requests received, details of any enforcement work, progress updates of our work plan and any changes in Licensing Law.

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Licensing Team Leader asked members whether they understood the contents of the report and whether they had any queries on any aspect of it.

 

Members indicated that they had read the report and understood its content. 

 

RESOLVED that the Licensing and Enforcement Committee note the contents of the report.

10.

Date of next meeting

Tuesday, 14th September 2021 at 6.30 p.m in Civic Suite, North Warehouse.

Minutes:

Tuesday, 14th September 2021 at 6.30 p.m in Civic Suite, North Warehouse.