Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Ingham and Kelly.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the last meeting, held on 21^st June 2023.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21^st June 2023 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To determine whether there are any additional items of business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chair decides should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

There were no additional items of business.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest in any of the items on the agenda.

To determine during which items, if any, the public are to be excluded from the meeting.

All of the items on the agenda were to be heard in public.

To consider questions, statements or petitions from members of the public.

Councillor Hosker addressed the committee under the Right to Speak policy about vehicles which were licensed by other Licensing Authorities but continued to operate predominantly in Burnley.

In his response, the Chair confirmed that members of the Licensing Committee shared similar concerns.

A 2015 change in the law permitted sub-contracting between operators in different authorities. This deregulation, and subsequent case law, had led to a fundamental change in the way operators ran their businesses, often holding operator licences with multiple licensing authorities. This meant that those who worked with these operators could effectively choose where to apply for their licence, perhaps in a neighbouring authority where conditions were better suited to their needs.

Vehicles licensed by neighbouring authorities then continued to predominantly work in Burnley via these subcontracting arrangements. As Council Officers could only enforce compliance in relation to their own licensed vehicles, issues relating to vehicles & drivers licensed elsewhere must be passed on to the relevant authority.

Targeted interventions of the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire fleet in Burnley continued and the safety of licensed drivers, passengers, pedestrians and other road users was paramount in all of the Licensing Authority’s interventions and enforcement activities.

To determine the level of taxi licence fees effective from January 2024.

Consideration was given to a report which outlined options for the level of taxi licence fees effective from January 2024.

RESOLVED, THAT:

1.    Taxi fees remain unchanged for 2024, and

2.    Costs incurred by the six monthly Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) update service checks through the year be built into next year’s full review of fees.

To refresh the Hackney Carriage & Private Hire Licensing Policy:-

Covering Report,

Appendix A – Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy - Draft November 2023

Appendix B – Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy - March 2023.

Supplementary Agenda

Feedback from Taxi Task Group Meeting on 2^nd November 2023

Consideration was given to a report which proposed a number of revisions to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy document.

The consolidated Policy document was first introduced in November 2022 to reflect the Department for Transport (DfT) Statutory Taxi & Private Hire Vehicle Standards and brought together all of our procedures on taxi and private hire vehicle licensing, the primary and overriding objective of which must be to protect the public.

The proposed amendments reflected issues that had arisen since it was introduced. It made the document more relevant to drivers by explaining legal requirements and introduced new local requirements that applied to the licence or process.

Feedback from the recent Taxi Task Group meeting had been circulated as a Supplementary Agenda and included three further recommendations for the committee’s consideration.

Members made a number of observations and asked a number of questions to which responses were provided as shown in italics below:

Driver Licence Surrender:

Would this new requirement to prevent the surrender of a licence mean that a driver who no longer wanted to be a driver, and who wanted to change their occupation, could not surrender their licence?

This would not prevent any movement of occupation, whereas surrender of a licence might prevent the sharing of relevant information with other local authorities so whilst not a mandatory measure, it was, in effect, closing a public safety loophole.

If a driver were to apply for a licence in another area, would that area’s Licensing Authority check on the national database [NR3]?

Licensing Authorities were required to conduct regular DBS service update checks in order to identify any convictions. If the driver had no convictions but their behaviour had resulted in some penalty, such as suspension or revocation, this would be noted on the national register and any Licensing Authority conducting a search could take their findings into account when considering any application.

Was use of NR3 mandatory for Licensing Authorities?

Yes, All Licensing Authorities must now make use of it.

By checking NR3 as a matter of course, Burnley was potentially protecting citizens of other areas more than other areas were protecting the citizens of Burnley.

NR3 would potentially prevent a driver who wanted to move towns and would have previously surrendered their Burnley licence in order to work in Blackburn.

Was there any restriction on holding more than one licence if a driver wanted to move areas for genuine reasons?

There was no restriction and a valid licence would continue to exist until it expired [unless revoked/suspended etc].

Did the information on NR3 allow Licensing Authorities to see if a driver had been refused a licence elsewhere?

It did indeed. When a Hackney/Private Hire Driver’s Licence was revoked or suspended, or an application for one refused, the authority would automatically record this decision on NR3.

Operator Booking Office CCTV:

Public houses had to have working CCTV, would that be the same for Booking Offices?

The draft revised policy document proposed ‘Booking Offices must have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.