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No. | Item |
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APOLOGIES To receive
any apologies for absence. Minutes: Everyone was welcomed to the meeting by the Chairman,
Councillor Eryl Jones-Williams. Apologies were received from Councillors Craig ab Iago, Llywarch Bowen
Jones, Louise Hughes, Dilwyn Lloyd and Peter Read. Councillor Eddie Dogan was thanked for his service to
the Licensing Committee over the years – it was noted that the Councillor was
standing down due to his health. Concern was raised regarding the number of Members
present and the number of vacant seats on the Committee. It was agreed to draw the
matter to the attention of the Monitoring Officer. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive
any declaration of personal interest. Minutes: No declarations of personal interest were received from any
members present |
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URGENT ITEMS To note any
items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for
consideration. Minutes: None to
note. |
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The
Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this Committee, held
on 22nd of June 2015 be signed as a true
record. Minutes: The Chairman signed the minutes of the previous meeting of
this committee, held on 22 June 2015 as a true record. |
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GENERAL LICENSING SUB-COMMITTEE MINUTES PDF 225 KB To submit,
for information, minutes of the General Licensing Sub-committee meeting held on
the following date – a)
12.06.2015 Minutes: Submitted - for information, the
minutes of the General Licensing Sub-committee meeting held on 12.06.15. |
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PROPOSED TAXI LICENSING FEES 2015 PDF 250 KB To submit
the report of the Head of Regulatory Department to receive the support of the
committee regarding the taxi licensing fees from 1 October 2015 Additional documents:
Minutes: Submitted - the report of
the Head of the Regulatory Department, recommending that the Committee
supported the intention to increase the Taxi Licensing Fees to the recommended
levels, in order to achieve full cost recovery, prior to their approval by the
Head of the Regulatory Department for implementation from 1 October 2015. The Council was required to review its fees
in respect of taxi licensing (i.e. hackney carriage licences, private hire
vehicle licences, private hire operator licence and driver licences) on a
regular basis. Sections 53 and 70 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act 1976 provided that fees could be charged at a level sufficient
to recover reasonable costs. On 24 June 2013, this Licensing Committee decided: -
To review the fees annually
-
That taxi
licensing fees must be increased in order to achieve full cost recovery. This year, the Treasurer’s
Department had calculated that the amount which the Council was permitted to
recover the cost of providing the taxi licensing function in 2015/16 is
£141,626. In 2014/15, the actual
income from taxi licensing had been £127,848. There was therefore a projected income shortfall of £13,778
for 2015/16. It was therefore suggested, in order to achieve full cost recovery
and to ensure that the Unit was self-sufficient, that this year’s fees should
be increased by 10.78%. It was reported that the
proposed fees had been consulted upon internally with the Head of Finance who
supported increasing the fees to achieve full cost recovery. A public notice had been placed in the local press on
20 August 2015 and a copy made available for inspection in Siop Gwynedd
Caernarfon, Pwllheli and Dolgellau in accordance with the statutory
requirements. The consultation end date
was 17 September 2015. In addition to the statutory requirements a copy of the
public notice had been made available on the Council’s website and the taxi
trade had been informed of the consultation by letter on 14 August 205. A total
of 505 letters had been sent. The trade
had been reminded in this letter that there would be an opportunity to submit
formal representations during the consultation period. As at 14/09/15 the Licensing Unit had received one letter objecting to the new fees. During the discussion, the following observations were
made: -
Would the
cost deficit be a recurring pattern? -
Were the
numbers of drivers decreasing due to the increasing costs? -
What was
the comparison with nearby counties -
Both
operators and drivers needed to recover costs, therefore fairness must be
ensured -
Historically, the Council
had not regularly increased its fees, and therefore since 2013 the increase
appeared to be high. However, the percentages
had been increased at acceptable rates. -
505 letters had been sent –
one objector had responded to the review – which illustrated that the companies
accepted the increase. In response to the above observations, the Head of the Regulatory Department noted that the intention was for the fee to reach the costs of providing the service, ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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REVISION OF GWYNEDD COUNCIL'S POLICIES PDF 329 KB - Combined
Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence Policy - Hackney
Carriage & Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Policy -
Private Hire Operator’s Licensing Policy To submit
the report of the Head of Regulatory Department to receive the support of the
committee to the direction of the proposed high level changes to the taxi
licensing policies Additional documents:
Minutes: ·
Combined Hackney
Carriage/Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence Policy ·
Hackney Carriage & Private
Hire Vehicle Licensing Policy ·
Private Hire Operator’s
Licensing Policy Submitted – a report by the
Head of the Regulatory Department requesting the committee’s support to review
the licensing policies and to create a unified policy to replace the three
separate policy documents. It was also noted that during its meeting on 22 June 2015 this Committee
resolved that the policies and working practices relating to Taxi Licensing
needed to be updated and reviewed following the increase in the number of
applications being made to license a vehicle contrary to policy and following
the Deregulation Act 2015 and the measures affecting the Local Government
(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. In relation to a unified
policy, it was noted that the Local Government Association: (ref ‘Taxi
and PHV Licensing – Councillor’s Handbook’ dated March 2015) strongly
encouraged licensing authorities to create an unified policy that brought
together all their policies and procedures in one place. Creating a single, unified policy that would be
reviewed on a regular basis would provide clarity for drivers and operators, as
well as strengthening the council’s position if there was a challenge against a
decision in court. The attention of Members was
drawn to the proposed high-level changes that would need consideration in
relation to drivers, vehicles and operators, and in particular ‘grandfather
rights’, ‘vehicle age specifications’ and ‘wheelchair accessibility’. Under ‘grandfather rights’
it was proposed: Proposal 1: That the
‘Grandfather Rights’ status for Arfon hackney carriage proprietors be removed
from the policy and all proprietors be subject to the same conditions and
vehicle requirements. It is also proposed
that the vehicle specification of all vehicles in all zones be unified to
create a more transparent and relevant policy for all proprietors across the
county. Under ‘vehicle age
specifications’ it was proposed, Proposal 2: In all zones,
an application to license a vehicle for the first time as a Hackney Carriage or
Private Hire vehicle must be in respect of a vehicle that is less than 6 years
old on the date when the completed application is received by the Licensing
Authority. Proposal 3: In all zones,
an application to renew the licence
of a Hackney Carriage or Private Hire vehicle must be in respect of a vehicle
that is less than 12 years old on the date when the current licence expires. Proposal 4: Gwynedd
Council will permit the renewal of a licence of a Hackney Carriage or Private
Hire vehicle beyond the upper age limit of 12 years if it can be shown that the
vehicle is in ‘exceptional condition’. Under ‘wheelchair
accessibility’ it was proposed: Proposal 5: All proprietors will be encouraged to license as many wheelchair accessible hackney carriages as they deem necessary. However, Gwynedd Council will impose a requirement that for every 7 licensed hackney carriages in a proprietor’s fleet at least 1 hackney carriage of that 7 must be a wheelchair accessible vehicle. Therefore if the fleet size was 14 hackney ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |