To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008.

None.

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of the Licensing Committee dated 24 May 2016.

RESOLVED              That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing           

                                  Committee of 24 May 2016 be approved as a true                                                                           and accurate record.

The Team Manager Licensing introduced Daniel Cook, Licensing Policy Officer to the Committee. The Licensing Policy Officer then presented a report on the Introduction of Intended Use/Remote Trading Policy for Hackney Carriages.

The purpose of the report was to consider the risk to public safety presented by the remote trading of Hackney Carriages in other Authority areas and to seek approval to consult on a draft policy to mitigate such risk.

Some authorities across the UK were experiencing a high number of applications for Hackney Carriage Vehicle licences, Joint Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Driver licences from applicants living in different local authorities to the one they were applying to.  The concern being that once they have the licence they will then trade in other Authorities.  This causes difficulties for both the Authority in which they are trading as well as the Authority in which they are licensed. 

In 2008 a High Court Judgement – Newcastle City Council v Berwick-upon-Tweed established a principle that it was lawful for Hackney Carriages to trade in a local authority area other than that which issued the licences.  The case precedent arose as a result of a challenge from Newcastle City Council against Berwick-upon –Tweed where there was considerable disparity between the standards of vehicles, conditions of licence and fees. There were a disproportionate number of licence applications in Berwick-upon-Tweed, where applicants sought to take advantage of less stringent conditions and preferential fees although vehicles and drivers were actually intending to trade exclusively in Newcastle. By taking fees away from Newcastle City Council it detracted from their ability to promote public safety in a city centre environment, with a consequential risk to the travelling public     

The decision was that such activity was lawful.  However the problems it caused, such as difficulties enforcing standards and regulating the vehicles, remained.  Therefore, post the decision, it was for individual licensing authorities to take their own steps to manage the problem. Several licensing authorities identified “out of area” vehicles trading in their Boroughs and took steps to eliminate such trade through the creation of a policy governing remote trading. The main consideration in the policies was where the vehicle would predominantly intend to trade. If it was outside the area, the local authority could either refuse to grant the licence or seek to revoke the licence for breach of the policy post grant. The Licensing Policy Officer confirmed that this had not yet been tested in court. 

This was mainly larger cities but more recently all types of areas have been affected

This policy is the attempt by Bridgend to deal with the problem locally and specifically deals with those predominantly trading in other areas. Without the policy, Bridgend Enforcement Officers only have powers to deal with vehicles licensed by their own area. They would have to rely on Enforcement Officers from other areas “coming in” to regulate the other vehicles and this is not practicable.

The Licensing Policy Officer confirmed that the consultation would include questionnaires to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

To consider any other item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in accordance with Rule 4 of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.