Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - Wallasey Town Hall

Contact: Anne Beauchamp  Committee Officer

Items
No. Item

1.

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 requested to declare whether they had any disclosable pecuniary and non pecuniary interests in connection with any item on the agenda and if so and state the nature of the interest.

 

No such declarations were made.

2.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 76 KB

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2017.

Minutes:

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2017, be approved.

3.

APPOINTMENT OF THE LICENSING PANEL pdf icon PDF 77 KB

Minutes:

The Assistant Director of Law and Governance 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 2017/18 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 would normally be 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 2017/2018 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 2017/2018:-

 

Members   Deputies

 

4 Labour  Bill Davies (Chair)  George Davies

Councillors  Ron Abbey  Adrian Jones

  Chris Meaden  Julie McManus

  Paul Stuart  Christina Muspratt

  Anita Leech

  Jean Stapleton

  Irene Williams

  Mike Sullivan

 

2 Conservative  Andrew Hodson (s)  Steve Williams

Councillors  David Burgess-Joyce  Les Rowlands

  David Elderton

  Gerry Ellis

  John Hale

  Cherry Povall

  Eddie Boult

  Geoffrey Watt

 

1 Liberal Democrat  Dave Mitchell (s)  Alan Brighouse

Councillor  Phil Gilchrist

  Christopher Carubia

  Stuart Kelly

4.

PERIODIC REVIEW OF LICENSING FEES FOR HACKNEY CARRIAGE AND PRIVATE HIRE DRIVERS AND VEHICLES, AND PRIVATE HIRE OPERATORS pdf icon PDF 93 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Managing Director for Delivery reported upon a representation that had been received regarding the proposed increase in licence fees in respect of Hackney Carriage, Private Hire and Operator Licences.

 

The Licensing Manager reported that a review of the fees for Hackney Carriage, Private Hire and Operator Licences had been undertaken and it had been identified that the projected income received for the financial year 2016-2017 would not cover the costs of delivering the service.  Members had therefore resolved to approve an increase in licence fees at their meeting held on 22 March 2017 subject to any objections being received as part of the consultation process.

 

The Licensing Manager advised that a representation had been received from Unite the Union and Mr D Cummins was in attendance to outline his representations.

 

Mr D Cummins addressed the Committee and raised his objections to the proposed increase in taxi licensing fees.  He expressed his concerns in respect of the consultation that had been carried out and his objections to the proposed increase in the fees which he believed were disproportionate.

 

The Licensing Manager referred to the consultation which had been undertaken in accordance with the statutory requirements, gave assurances in respect of being transparent with the trade and referred to the on line scheme which they had signed up to in order that they receive notifications of meetings.  She also reported that the proposed increase was the result of a budget deficit that had been identified in respect of the income received from licences and the cost of providing the service.

 

Members noted the concerns raised by Mr Cummins on behalf of the taxi trade, however had regard to the requirement to recover costs in order to provide the service and made reference to the fact that the fees would be reviewed annually.

 

It was moved by Councillor R Abbey and seconded by Councillor A Hodson that –

 

“The licence fees in respect of Hackney Carriage, Private Hire and Operator Licences as set out in Appendix 1 of the report be approved with effect from 1 June 2017.”

 

Resolved – That the licence fees in respect of Hackney Carriage, Private Hire and Operator Licences as set out in Appendix 1 of the report be approved with effect from 1 June 2017.