Councillor S Niblock declared a prejudicial interest in respect of the application regarding Mr Abadi and left the room during its consideration.

The Licensing Manager, on behalf of the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management, reported upon the consideration of the allocation of available Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licences resulting from the decision of the Licensing, Health and Safety and General Purposes Committee on 23 January 2012 to impose a limit on the number of Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licences issued.

Prior to the meeting on 23 January 2012 a number of proprietors had placed orders for new Hackney Carriage Vehicles.  The proprietors of these vehicles subsequently applied to license them.  In accordance with the decision of the Committee on 23 January 2012 no licences had been issued to these applicants.  Details of the applications were outlined within the report with copies of the application forms attached as exempt appendices and Members were asked to consider and determine each application.

The proprietors who had placed orders for new vehicles were Mr Abiru who had ordered a new hackney carriage vehicle on 10 January 2012, Mr Skeete who had ordered three new hackney carriage vehicles on 12 January 2012 and Mr Marnell who had ordered two new hackney carriage vehicles on 4 November 2011.  Members were also asked to consider an application to re-license a Hackney Carriage Vehicle following failure to renew on time submitted by Mr Abadi.

The Licensing Manager advised Members that following research with other local authorities, a number of different allocation policies had been identified.  An outline of the options identified was presented to Members and the Licensing Manager responded to questions from Members.

It was moved by Councillor S Taylor and seconded by Councillor P Glasman that -

“Members note the information concerning the options presented for an allocation policy and instruct the Director of Law, Human Resources and Asset Management to arrange for a public consultation in respect of a future allocation policy for Hackney Carriage licences.”

Resolved -

That Members note the information concerning the options presented for an allocation policy and instruct the Director of Law, Human Resources and Asset Management to arrange for a public consultation in respect of a future allocation policy for Hackney Carriage licences.

EXEMPT INFORMATION - EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

Resolved - That, under section 100 (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined by paragraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 12A (as amended) to that Act. The Public Interest test had been applied and favoured exclusion.

Mr Abiru attended the meeting, made representations in support of his application and responded to questions from Members of the Committee.

It was moved by Councillor T Anderson and seconded by Councillor S Taylor that -

“Following the resolution of this Committee to restrict the number of Hackney Carriage vehicle licences the application in respect of Mr Abiru be refused on the grounds that he was aware that there may be a change in policy regarding the issue of Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licences and had made provisions for transferring his licence and therefore there was no reasonable expectation that a Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence would be granted.”

Resolved (5:4) - That, following the resolution of this Committee to restrict the number of Hackney Carriage vehicle licences, the application in respect of Mr Abiru be refused on the grounds that he was aware that there may be a change in policy regarding the issue of Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licences and had made provisions for transferring his licence and therefore there was no reasonable expectation that Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence would be granted.

Councillor B Wilkins left the meeting due to illness.

Mr Skeete attended the meeting, made representations in support of his applications and responded to questions from Members of the Committee.

It was moved by Councillor S Niblock and seconded by Councillor T Anderson that -

“The applications in respect of Mr Skeete be granted.”

Resolved (8:0) - That the applications in respect of Mr Skeete be granted.

Mr Marnell attended the meeting, made representations in support of his applications and responded to questions from Members of the Committee.

It was moved by Councillor S Niblock and seconded by Councillor S Taylor that -

“The applications in respect of Mr Marnell be granted.”

Resolved (8:0) - That the applications in respect of Mr Marnell be granted.

Mr Abadi attended the meeting together with his representative, Mr Hughes, made representations in support of his application and responded to questions from Members of the Committee.

It was moved by Councillor P Glasman and seconded by Councillor K Wood that -

“The application in respect of Mr Abadi be refused on the grounds that Members had not been persuaded to justify departing from the current policy of requiring a vehicle to be three years old or less from the date of manufacture or registration when granting a licence.”

Resolved (7:0) - That the application in respect of Mr Abadi be refused on the grounds that Members had not been persuaded to justify departing from the current policy of requiring a vehicle to be three years old or less from the date of manufacture or registration when granting a licence.