Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - County Hall. View directions

Contact: Heather Bowers 

Items
No. Item

1.

MEMBERSHIP AND TERMS OF REFERENCE

To note the membership and terms of reference of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee as agreed at the County Council meeting held on 26 May 2021.

 

 

15 Members (7:5:1:1:1) 

Quorum – 4

Chair: I. Hutchinson

Vice Chair: C. Humphrey

 

Conservative 

Labour 

Independent Group 

Liberal Democrats 

Green Party 

Ind Non-Grouped 

J. Beynon 

B. Gallacher 

C. Taylor 

A. Sharp 

 

S. Lee 

T. Cessford 

J. Foster 

 

 

 

 

D. Ferguson 

K. Nisbet 

 

 

 

 

C. Hardy 

K. Parry 

 

 

 

 

C. Humphrey 

A. Wallace  

 

 

 

 

I. Hutchinson 

 

 

 

 

 

C. Seymour 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terms of Reference

 

(1)      Except where the matter is delegated either expressly to the Head of Housing and Public Protection, or alternatively to officers in accordance with the Public Protection internal scheme of management, the Licensing and Regulatory Committee has the following delegated powers:-

 

(a)          to be responsible for licensing matters relating to the following areas, including suspension and revocation of licences and applications where there has been a refusal to grant, renew or vary a licence, or where there are relevant objections to grant, vary or renew:-

 

(i) animal boarding establishments 

(xiii) sex establishments 

(ii) betting tracks 

(xiv) street collections 

(iii) dangerous wild animals 

(xv) street trading – prohibited areas 

(iv) dog breeding establishments 

(xvi) theatres and cinemas 

(v) game dealers 

(xvii) film classification 

(vi) hackney carriage drivers and proprietors  

(xviii) use of land as a caravan site 

(vii) hypnotism 

(xix) use of moveable dwellings and camping sites 

(viii) lotteries 

(xx) premises for acupuncture, tattooing, ear piercing and electrolysis 

(ix) motor salvage operators  

(xxi) safety certificates for sports grounds 

(x) pet shops 

(xxii) zoos 

(xi) pleasure boats and navigators 

(xxiii) knackers yards 

(xii) private hire vehicle drivers, proprietors and operators 

(xxiv) scrap metal 

 

(b)      to be responsible for any other licensing matters, including applications for licenses or registrations which are not delegated to any other body;

 

(c)      to make recommendations on licensing policy;

 

(d)      to make an order identifying a place as a designated public place for the purposes of police powers in relation to alcohol consumption;

 

(e)      to make recommendations to full Council in respect of bye-laws, including making new, or amending or revoking existing bye-laws;

 

(f)       to consider and respond on behalf of the Council to consultation exercises where it is appropriate to do so following agreement with the Chairman of the Committee. 

 

(2)      Where the Licensing and Regulatory Committee exercises the function of determining any application or similar matter, it may do so through a Sub Committee. 

Minutes:

The Membership and Terms of Reference, as agreed by Council at the meeting on 26 May 2021 had been circulated for information. 

 

The Chair welcomed the new members and invited all members and officers to introduce themselves. 

 

RESOLVED that the Licensing & Regulatory membership and terms of reference, as agreed by Council on 26 May 2021, be noted. 

2.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Cessford and Gallacher.

3.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 88 KB

Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee held on Thursday 11 February 2021, as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee held on Wednesday 11 February 2021, as circulated be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair. 

 

With reference to page 4, second last paragraph of the minutes.  A member requested that details of the number of electric or hybrid licensed vehicles be circulated to the new members of the committee. 

 

 

4.

SUBCOMMITTEE MINUTES pdf icon PDF 95 KB

To receive for information the following Minutes of the Licensing and Regulatory Sub-Committee:

 

 

1 July 2021.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Subcommittee Minutes of the Licensing and Regulatory Subcommitteeheld on 1 July 2021 be received for information. 

 

 

5.

REPORTS OF THE HEAD OF HOUSING AND PUBLIC PROTECTION pdf icon PDF 136 KB

1)       Hackney Carriage and Private Hire 

 

To update Members and seek approval for consultation in respect of four areas associated with the licensing of hackney carriages, and/or private hire vehicles and drivers.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

HACKNEY CARRIAGE AND PRIVATE  HIRE LICENSING 

 

Phil Soderquest, Head of Housing and Public Protection informed members that the purpose of the report was to update members and seek approval for consultation with the relevant bodies and licensed trade in respect of the following areas:- 

 

  • Review of the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, including the Government’s statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards and vehicle emissions. 
  • Hackney Carriage Zones 
  • Hackney Carriage Tariff 

 

Mr Soderquest reminded members that they should not express any views or otherwise prior to the consultation and that members would be able to make comment post consultation. 

 

(Councillor Sharp joined the meeting at 1.34 pm). 

 

Review of the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy 

 

For the benefit of new members, it was explained that a policy had been in place for a number of years, which consisted of the policies of 6 district council’s following Local Government Organisation.  The Government had issued statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards to licensing authorities outlining how they should carry out their licensing function. 

 

There was an expectation that those recommendations were implemented by local authorities unless there was a compelling local reason not to. 

 

Licensing Officers had reviewed the standards (Mr Soderquest conveyed his thanks for this) and where the Council’s policy did not already contain those elements, it was proposed to consult the trade on the implementation.  (Table on pages 15-23 of the report). 

 

(Councillor Foster joined the meeting at 1.37pm). 

 

The purpose of the standards was to protect children and vulnerable people from harm, eg child sexual exploitation.  Many of the proposals were already embedded within the Council’s policy. 

 

One of the standards related to adequate member training and further training would be provided on Sexual Exploitation and progressed with all licensing and regulatory members, to ensure that they were more informed. 

 

The Council already had a robust approach and as Head of Service,  Mr Soderquest was able to act on any matters of urgency through delegation and in consultation with the Chair of Licensing and Regulatory. 

 

Mr Soderquest informed members that there had to be serious and compelling reasons why the statutory guidance as set out, should not be followed.  A member queried the timescale for self-reporting of  incidents.  It was advised that the Council worked in partnership with Northumbria Police in matters or emergency as well as the Council’s 24 out of hours response.   

 

Vehicle Emissions 

 

The North East Strategic Licensing Group (NESLEG) had been asked to develop a set of standards for vehicles used as Hackney Carriages or Private Hire vehicles.  There had been no consistency across the polices which had been adopted.  Some authorities had not set emissions or age standards; however, Northumberland had used the European Standards. 

 

 

Hackney Carriage Zones 

 

The Local Government Reorganisation in 2009 had created 6 hackney carriage zones which had replaced the former district boundaries.  A hackney carriage licensed to ply for hire in one zone could not ply for hire in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

FUTURE MEETINGS

Future meetings of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee will commence at 1:30 pm and take place on:

 

Wednesday 27 October 2021

Wednesday 15 December 2021

Wednesday 16 February 2022

Wednesday 27 April 2022

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the future meetings be noted.