Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

1.

Appointment of Chair and Vice-Chair

To confirm the appointment made at the Annual Meeting of Council of Councillor Finnegan as Chair and Councillor Williams as Vice-Chair of the Committee.

Minutes:

Councillor Finnegan and Councillor K. Williams were confirmed as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee respectively.

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 386 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 14 September 2021.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on the 14th September 2021 were confirmed and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

4.

Minutes of Licensing Sub-Committees pdf icon PDF 565 KB

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

 

• 27 April 2022

• 30 September 2021

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee on the 27th April 2022 and the 30th September 2021 were received.

5.

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.

6.

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.

7.

DRAFT COUNTY CCTV CONSULTATION DOCUMENT FOR LICENSED HACKNEY CARRIAGE AND PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLES pdf icon PDF 426 KB

To receive the report of the Licensing Team Leader which asks the Licensing Committee to approve an eight week public consultation on the Draft County CCTV consultation document in Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicles.

Minutes:

The Licensing Team Leader presented the report. The purpose of which was for Members’ to approve an 8-week public consultation on the Draft County CCTV consultation document on Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicles.

 

Councillor Tracey asked who would monitor the CCTV in the vehicles, should a policy of mandatory CCTV be adopted.

 

The Licensing Team Leader responded that the trade would be consulted to see if there was a need in the first instance, which was what the report was about. If a policy was then formulated that stipulated mandatory CCTV, there would have to be a data controller, which would be a City Council officer.

 

Councillor Tracey noted that this process may be time consuming for officers. She asked whether, if there was an incident, the data controller would be able to rewind a recording to the incident and date.

 

The Licensing Team leader replied that she was correct.

 

Councillor D.Brown asked how the consultation would be conducted.

 

In response, the Licensing Team Leader stated that there was a questionnaire listed in Appendix 1 of the report that would be going out to the trade for drivers to respond to. He said that the drivers would receive a text message via the ‘firetext’ service with a link to the questionnaire and that emails would also be sent to other relevant parties so that they could provide feedback.

 

Councillor D.Brown noted that the introduction of CCTV could protect the safety of drivers as well as passengers. He asked whether the Licensing Team Leader had received any anecdotal feedback on the usefulness or harms of CCTV in vehicles.

 

The Licensing Team Leader noted that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gloucestershire County Council introduced CCTV for drivers who had school contracts. He said that when this was introduced, there was not much resistance from drivers in the trade but that they did ask for there to be a standardised level of CCTV camera installed. This was so that cameras in every vehicle could produce clear images which would ensure that some drivers were not purchasing low quality cameras at a cut price compared to other drivers.

 

Councillor David Brown asked how the consultation would be judged.

 

The Licensing Team Leader responded that there would be a report with the results of the consultation that would go before the Licensing Committee in September 2022.

 

Councillor Tracey asked who would pay for the installation of the Cameras. She added that, if it was the drivers who had to pay, whether it would be worth finding a contractor that would fit all vehicles so that the cameras were at the same standard and cost.

 

The Licensing Team Leader stated that, should CCTV be made mandatory for drivers, it would be the driver who would pay for the installation. He stated that it would be up to the Council as to the type and quality of camera that would be used, as they would have to create a policy to mandate installation. He stated that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

QUARTERLY UPDATE pdf icon PDF 123 KB

To receive the report of the Licensing Team Leader, which outlines to members, details of key Licensing Activities carried out from 1 March 2022 to 31 May 2022, including applications and service requests received, details of any enforcement work, progress updates of our work plan and any changes in Licensing Law.

Minutes:

The Licensing Team Leader asked if any Member had a query on the content of the Quarterly Update. 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.

9.

EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

To consider the following resolution should members wish to discuss agenda item 11.

 

“That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the following item of business on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of proceeding, that if members of the press or public are present during consideration of this item there will be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1, 2, 3 & 7 of Part 1 of Schedule12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended.”

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.

10.

EXEMPT MINUTES OF LICENSING AND ENFORCEMENT SUB-COMMITTEES pdf icon PDF 78 KB

To receive the exempt minutes of the following meeting of the Licensing and Enforcement Sub-Committee, if members decide they wish to discuss them:

 

• 21 April 2022

Minutes:

RESOLVED as per the exempt minutes.

11.

Date of next meeting

Tuesday 13 September at 6.30 p.m.

Minutes:

Tuesday 13 September at 6:30pm.