To submit
the report of the Head of Regulatory Department for decision
Minutes:
Submitted for a decision - the report of the Head
of Regulatory Department drawing the Members’ attention to the background of
the report. It was noted that at a meeting on 17 September 2012, the Committee
had resolved to delegate the power to the Head of Regulatory Department, in
consultation with the Chair and Vice-chair of the General Licensing
Sub-committee, to approve taxi vehicle licensing decisions for vehicles that
did not comply with the authority’s policy.
On 8 December 2014, the Committee had resolved that an additional member,
Councillor Peter Read, was to be included on the ‘decisions panel’ in order to
ensure that three areas (Arfon, Meirion,
Dwyfor) were represented.
During the period between 17 September 2012 and 30
April 2015, it was reported that a total of 73 licences had been granted for
vehicles which were contrary to Gwynedd Council’s existing Hackney Carriage
Vehicle policy. It was noted that the number of applications to license
vehicles that failed to comply with the policy had increased considerably since
the decision had been made to delegate the licensing decisions to the Head of
Regulatory Department in consultation with the ‘decisions panel’.
It was recognised that the consultation process was
quite intensive as many applicants were eager to receive a decision on their
application as soon as possible. It was noted that complaints had been made
recently to the Council regarding delays and the way in which applications to
license a vehicle that did not comply with the policy were being processed. In
light of these complaints, the Head of Regulatory Department had resolved to
review the situation and hold discussions with the Legal Department to obtain
advice regarding the current arrangement for making decisions. It was
highlighted that there was no change to the process but that clarity was required
regarding the advice offered to applicants when making initial enquiries about
applications. It was added that applicants must submit a formal application. It
was noted that reviewing the process had been useful and that applicants’
expectations of the situation were managed effectively as a result.
In response, an observation was made that a delayed
decision was usually the result of specific reasons and that the main aim was
to make the right decision to ensure public safety.
In relation to paragraph 3.4 of the report, the
solicitor explained that it would not be the fact that the ‘Decisions Panel’
members failed to reach a decision on an application for advice on a specific
vehicle that would exclude them from voting on a licence application in relation
to that vehicle at the General Licensing Sub-committee hearing, rather it would
be the fact that they had dealt with the application for advice in the first
place.
The Senior Planning and Environment Manager and the
Solicitor confirmed the following changes to the report: delete paragraph 4.5;
delete paragraph 5.1 and insert a new 5.1 paragraph as follows “The report
notes”; delete paragraph 5.2 and insert a new 5.2 paragraph as follows “It is
noted that pre-application advice is provided by the Licensing Unit, on an
impartial basis, on an application’s likely result, before submission of a
formal application.”
RESOLVED to accept the report in accordance with
the amended recommendations.
The meeting commenced at 11:00am and
concluded at 11:55am.
Supporting documents: