Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - Wallasey Town Hall. View directions

Contact: Anne Beauchamp  Committee Officer

Items
No. Item

17.

MEMBERS' CODE OF CONDUCT - DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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

Minutes:

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

 

No such declarations were made.

18.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 64 KB

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 23 November 2016.

Minutes:

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 23 November 2016 be approved.

19.

WIRRAL AWARD 2016 pdf icon PDF 73 KB

Minutes:

The Assistant Director – Law and Governance, requested that the Committee agree that the Wirral Award 2016 be conferred on the nominees recommended by the Wirral Award Working Party held on 15 December 2016. The Wirral Award was intended to confer civic recognition upon individuals or organisations resident or located in Wirral for an outstanding achievement within the previous twelve months, or for distinguished service to the Borough over a period of twenty years or more.

 

It was reported that once nominations were agreed, a presentation ceremony would be arranged which would be attended by The Mayor of Wirral, the Leader of the Council, Group Leaders, the Chair of the Licensing, Health and Safety and General Purposes Committee, the Chief Executive and the nominees plus one guest each.

 

Resolved - That the Wirral Award 2016 be conferred on the recipients recommended by the Wirral Award Working Party, and that the suggested arrangements be agreed.

20.

HACKNEY CARRIAGE VEHICLE CRITERIA AND LICENCE CONDITIONS pdf icon PDF 88 KB

Minutes:

The Managing Director for Delivery sought Members’ approval of revised Hackney Carriage Criteria and Licence Conditions.

 

The Licensing Manager reported that the current criteria and conditions had not been subject to review since they had been approved on 2 March 2006.  Members were advised that officers had now reviewed both the criteria and conditions in consultation with other Merseyside authorities with a view to developing a more consistent approach across Merseyside.

 

It was reported that consultation had taken place on the revised criteria and conditions by means of a newsletter to all licence holders in November 2016 and also at meetings of the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Joint Consultative Committee (JCC).  During the consultation period two representations had been received and a further meeting of the JCC had taken place on 10 January 2017.  In light of the representations made, the draft criteria and conditions had been reviewed and some amendments had been made.  Subsequently Members of the JCC were content with the proposed changes. 

 

The draft document had been circulated to Members ahead of the meeting.  The Licensing Manager requested that should Members approve the draft criteria and conditions, delegated authority be given to officers to update the compliance testing document in accordance with the draft criteria and conditions.

 

Resolved –

 

(1)  That the revised Hackney Carriage Vehicle Criteria and Conditions be approved to take effect within two months of the date of this meeting.

 

(2)  That delegated authority be given to officers to update the compliance testing document in accordance with the approved Criteria and Conditions.

21.

REVIEW OF HACKNEY CARRIAGE FARES pdf icon PDF 101 KB

Minutes:

The Managing Director for Delivery requested Members’ consideration of representations received in respect of a proposed increase to the Hackney Carriage fare tariff.

 

The Licensing Manager advised that further to a meeting of this Committee on 23 November 2016, the proposed increase had been advertised on the Council website and in the Wirral Globe for a period of fourteen days and that during the consultation process two representations had been received in respect of the proposed increase which had been circulated to Members at the meeting.

 

The two drivers who had made the representations were in attendance and advised that they objected to the proposed increase in fare tariff.  They expressed their concerns that this would have a negative impact on the business for hackney carriage drivers.

 

Mr D Cummins, Unite the Union and Mr G Gregory were also in attendance.  They advised that due to the increase in the cost of living, the proposed increase in fares would go some way towards recovering costs.  They also referred to the fact that there had been no increase in fares since December 2012.

 

It was moved by Councillor A Hodson and seconded by Councillor D Mitchell that –

 

“The proposed increase to the Hackney Carriage fare tariff be approved.”

 

Resolved - That the proposed increase to the Hackney Carriage fare tariff be approved.