Agenda and draft minutes

None.

To review the Terms of Reference of the Regulatory Committee for 2025/26 municipal year.

The Service Delivery Manager: Registrars, Public Protection, Legal & Democracy presented the Terms of Reference for the Licensing Committee for the 2025/26 Municipal Year.

The Council’s Constitution required that Full Council should agree at its Annual Meeting the Terms of Reference for each of its committees to enable the Council to efficiently conduct its business.

At the Annual Meeting of the Council held on 15 May 2025, Full Council delegated authority to each Committee to review its own Terms of Reference.  Also, at this meeting the Licensing Committee had been split into two Committees to have the effect that (1) the Licensing Committee would consider business as this related to the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005, and (2) the Regulatory Committee would consider business as this related to other legislation to include, but not limited to, that relating to taxis, street trading and animal boarding.  There were no other changes to the Terms of Reference.

Upon being put to the vote it was, unanimously:

RESOLVED – that the Terms of Reference for the 2025/26 Municipal Year be approved.

To receive an update on Taxi Licensing.

The Service Delivery Manager: Registrars, Public Protection, Legal & Democracy gave an update on the work of the Licensing Team in relation to the work in the remit of the Regulatory Committee.

In relation to taxis, the Council would grant a licence to a fit and proper person and could create conditions for taxi licence holders and operators.  A driver was permitted to work anywhere if the private hire operator and driver were the same.  The Council was committed to ensuring and maintaining high standards whilst doing what it could to bolster the numbers of drivers.

There were currently 390 drivers and 41 operators within the borough and the team was in conversation with operators to consider how to grow the fleet.  This would benefit residents with more readily available taxis, but this needed to be balanced against high standards and safety.

Those Members that sat on the Committee during the previous municipal year would be aware of the approval of the restricted private hire licences and changes to the tint requirements, which reflected the efforts in relation to efficiency, safety and meeting the community needs in areas such as home to school transport.

Hackney Carriage licences had a distinct difference where they could be flagged down whereas private hire vehicles were restricted to pre-bookings only which was a key difference.   Luckily, plying for hire did not happen very often but the Council was as tough as it could be when it occurred.

In terms of forthcoming work, the Council’s Taxi Licensing Policy, which was approved on 1 April 2023, was due to be reviewed by 2026 and during the current municipal year Members would be asked to feed into and approve the revised Taxi Licensing Policy.  The Licensing Team, together with Legal Services, would look at best practice guidance from the Department for Transport (DFT) and ensure that the Policy would align or diverge in order to meet safety requirements.

The Team was currently working to a five-day turnaround to issue a licence, once all of the relevant documents had been received, which was significantly more effective than other local authorities. It was hoped to get the message out to any drivers who were considering being licenced with the Council that their licence would be received in a timely manner.

In relation to ongoing enforcement, the Team had delegated authority to effect decisions about current drivers and during the last 12-month period, two licences had been revoked, one new application refused, and two drivers required as part of their review to attend a driver training course.  Where there was a need to revoke, the Council would take action at the first opportunity.  There were currently two drivers appealing against the decision to revoke their licences within the Court system and the Committee would be kept updated.

The Council had successfully introduced a voluntary CCTV programme with CCTV initially being installed within 16 vehicles. Community Safety Partnership funding had been received, which enabled further installation of CCTV and once this had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.