Members of the Committee were asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non pecuniary interest in connection with any application on the agenda and state the nature of the interest.

No such declarations were made.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 25 March 2015.

Resolved - That the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 25 March 2015 be approved.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services reported that Standing Order 33(1) required that Committees should keep the need for panels under review and, in particular, the position must be reviewed at the first meeting of a Committee in each municipal year.

He set out the terms of reference of the Licensing Panel and indicated that if it was to be retained in 2015/16 with seven members, the allocation of those places would be 4 Labour, 2 Conservative and 1 Liberal Democrat.

He reported that only named deputies may attend panel meetings in place of a permanent member. Standing Order 25(6)(a) permits appointment of up to a maximum of eight deputies for each political group and deputies are normally called to serve in the order in which they are nominated.

Unless appointed as full members, the Leaders and Deputy Leaders of the three largest political groups represented on the Council are entitled to attend meetings of all Committees, Sub-Committees and Panels, with the right to speak at the Chair’s invitation, but not to vote (Standing Order 25(5) refers).

Resolved -

(1)  That the Licensing Panel be re-appointed for 2015/2016 with the terms of reference identified until amended or otherwise changed by the Committee and until such time as a new Panel is appointed.

(2)  That the following members be appointed to serve on the Licensing Panel in 2015/2016:-

The Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment requested that Members consider an amendment to the implementation date of the Policy in respect of the medical requirement for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Drivers from 1 August 2015 to 1 October 2015.

Members were advised that amendments made by the Deregulation Act 2015 affecting Hackney Carriage and Private Hire drivers would be coming into force on 1 October 2015 and the Local Authority would be required to issue Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Driver Licences for a period of three years from that date.  It was therefore proposed that the implementation of the Policy in respect of the medical requirement for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Drivers should be brought into line with the implementation date of three year Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Driver Licences on 1 October 2015.

The Chair advised that the changes to the Policy had been widely consulted upon through the Joint Consultative Committee and letters had been sent out to all drivers and operators.

Councillor Niblock confirmed that he had attended the Joint Consultative Committee meeting and the representatives of the trade who had attended the meeting had been agreeable to the proposed change to the Policy for medicals to be carried out every three years.

The Licensing Manager confirmed that licences would be renewed every three years and therefore the length of the licence would be linked in with the requirement for a medical.  The Licensing Manager also advised that training would be provided to Members in respect of the amendments made to the legislation affecting Hackney Carriage and Private Hire licences.

It was moved by Councillor A Hodson and seconded by Councillor J Salter that –

“Members approve a revised implementation date for the Policy in respect of the medical requirement for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Drivers of 1 October 2015.”

Resolved – That a revised implementation date for the Policy in respect of the medical requirement for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Drivers of 1 October 2015 be approved by Members.