Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Cllr Alan Jones Evans and Cllr Hefin Underwood

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

None to note

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration.

None to note

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this Committee, held on 10^th June 2024 be signed as a true record. 

The Chair signed the minutes of a meeting of the committee held on 10 June 2024 as a true record

To submit, for information, minutes of the General Licensing Sub-committee meetings held on the following dates –

a)     07-05-24

b)     10-06-24

c)     04-09-24

d)     08-10-24

Submitted and received, for information, the minutes of the General Licensing Sub-Committees held on 7 May 2024, 10 June 2024, 4 September 2024 and 8 October 2024

To approve the amendment to the procedure for delegating decisions to the Sub – Committee in accordance with the procedure recommended in the report.

DECISION: To approve the amendment to the procedure of delegating decisions to the Sub-Committee:

Delegated Rights of Head of Environment: review clause 11.3.5 as follows-

To exercise the Council’s powers in the field of hackney and private hire vehicle licensing except for the following matters which are the responsibility of the Sub-committee of the General Licensing Committee.

·       Determining an application for a hackney/private hire driver's licence when a report from the Criminal Records Bureau discloses a conviction or police caution, and when the application is contrary to the Authority's policy.

·       Determining an application for a hackney/private hire vehicle licence where the vehicle does not comply with the authority’s policy.

·       Determining an application for a private hire operator's licence when a report from the Criminal Records Bureau discloses a conviction or police caution, and when the application is contrary to the Authority's policy.

·       The procedure will ensure that the decision is delegated to an officer in circumstances where the individual's criminal history, or any matter to be considered, is not contrary to policy.

·       The Head of Department has discretion under the Scheme of Delegation to refer any application for a Sub-Committee hearing where circumstances warrant doing so: and the changes will not affect that right.

Submit the amendments to the Monitoring Officer so that they can be included as part of a 'Constitution Review' report which will be presented to the Full Council for final approval.

A report was submitted by the Head of the Environment Department asking the Committee to consider and approve the options for amending the current delegation scheme arrangements. It was explained that the Council, as a Licensing Authority, had a duty under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 and the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 to license private hire and hackney vehicle drivers, vehicles and operators. It was added that the Licensing Authority was required to ensure that an individual applying for a driver's/operator's licence, or applying for the renewal of such a licence, was a 'fit and proper' person to hold that licence. Members were reminded that the main purpose of licensing vehicles, operators and drivers was to safeguard public health. This was the priority considered by the Council when adopting a specific procedure to address this.

Attention was drawn to the Constitution's wording that set out a specific procedure in terms of which decisions were delegated to officers; and which decisions fell under the Sub-committee's responsibilities. Members were reminded that a report had been submitted to the December 2019 committee meeting outlining the arrangements with initial options for reviewing the procedures for delegating decisions. During the Committee, members agreed that the General Licensing Sub-Committees should still be able to award decisions in an objective and rational manner where the applications, by their nature, justified a decision by the Sub-Committee. The Legal Service and the Licensing Service were given the right to investigate further to address the disadvantages of the current system while at the same time preserving the resilience, fairness and transparency of the current system.

It was reported that the delegation of decisions varied from Council to Council and that this had also been taken into account when reviewing the system. From Cyngor Gwynedd's perspective, it was considered that the Sub-committee had an important role in considering and deciding applications that were contrary to any policy in operation at the time; such as the current policy that provided guidance on determining whether an individual was fit and proper to hold a taxi driver's licence (Suitability Criteria for Drivers and Operators Policy).  It was also noted that there needed to be explicitness in terms of defining the circumstances in which an application should be referred to the Sub-committee.

It was noted that if the Committee approved the amendments, they would be submitted for final approval by the Full Council as part of a report by the Monitoring Officer on the Review of the Constitution.

Thanks were expressed for the report.

During the ensuing discussion, the following observations were made by members:

·       Welcomed the change – there was no point in submitting an application to a sub-committee unnecessarily – this would ease an unnecessary workload for the sub-committee and officers

·       The need to ensure a fair and transparent process

·       It should be ensured that the applicant was aware of their right to appeal - this needed to be clearly highlighted, together with the circumstances of what would be referred  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.