Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Centre, Doncaster Road, Selby, YO8 9FT

Contact: Democratic Services  Email: democraticservices@selby.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

31.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor M McCartney.

 

32.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 305 KB

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Licensing Committee held on 10 October 2022.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting held on 10 October 2022.

 

RESOLVED:

To approve the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 10 October 2022.

 

33.

Disclosures of Interest

A copy of the Register of Interest for each Selby District Councillor is available for inspection at www.selby.gov.uk.

 

Councillors should declare to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest in any item of business on this agenda which is not already entered in their Register of Interests. Councillors should leave the meeting and take no further part in the consideration, discussion or vote on any matter in which they have a disclosable pecuniary interest.

 

Councillors should also declare any other interests. Having made the declaration, provided the other interest is not a disclosable pecuniary interest, the Councillor may stay in the meeting, speak and vote on that item of business.

 

If in doubt, Councillors are advised to seek advice from the Monitoring Officer.

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of interest.

 

34.

Procedure and Taxi Licensing Policy pdf icon PDF 108 KB

To confirm the procedure to be followed at the meeting, including the Council’s Taxi Licensing Policy.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Licensing Committee procedure and the Council’s Taxi Licensing Policy.

 

35.

Chair's Address to the Licensing Committee

Minutes:

The Chair informed Members that Council Licensing and Enforcement officers had worked with North Yorkshire Police licensing and Safer Communities to carry out an out of hours enforcement evening in Selby Town on Friday 2 December 2022.  Members noted that 15 licensed premises had received a visit from officers, and taxi vehicles on the rank had been checked to ensure that the taxi meters had been updated following the recent increase in Hackney carriage fares which had come into effect on the 18 November 2022.

 

The Committee heard that a court hearing would take place in February 2023, this would be a two-day trial in relation to unlicensed breeding; officers would keep the Licensing Committee informed of the outcome of the hearing.

 

36.

Private Session

That, in accordance with Section 100(A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, the meeting be not open to the Press and public during discussion of the following items as there will be disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12(A) of the Act.

Minutes:

It was proposed, and seconded, that the Committee sit in private session due to the nature of the business to be transacted.

 

RESOLVED:

That, in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted the meeting be not open to the press and public during discussion of the following items as there will be disclosure of exempt information as described in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12(A) of the Act.

 

37.

Application for a vehicle to be licensed as a Private Hire Vehicle, which is contrary to Selby Taxi Licensing Policy

To receive a report, which asks the Committee to consider an application for a vehicle to be licenced as a Private Hire Vehicle; and if the Committee resolve to depart from the policy, consider how long the vehicle should be licensed for.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Licensing Manager presented the report, which asked the Committee to consider an application for a vehicle to be licensed as a Private Hire vehicle.

 

It was explained that the application had been brought before the Committee due to the application being contrary to Selby District Council’s Taxi Licensing Policy 2022, which stated that any vehicle licensed for the first time should be under the age of five years.  It was further explained that should Members resolve that there were exceptional reasons to depart from the Policy in this case, the vehicle would immediately become contrary to Policy as once a vehicle reached the age of 12 years then it could no longer be renewed as a licensed vehicle. Members noted that the car to be licensed was 13 years old.

 

The applicant and their partner were present.  When asked to confirm if they had received a copy of the report to be considered, and the procedure that would be followed at the meeting, the applicant stated that they had not.  The Licensing Manager explained that the documentation had been sent via email to the applicant, at which time it was agreed by the applicant that they had received the email, however they had not read the documents contained therein.

 

The Chair granted a short adjournment in order for the applicant to read the Licensing Procedure and the Committee report.  The meeting adjourned at 10.10 am and re-convened at 10.20 am at which time the applicant confirmed they were content to proceed.

 

The applicant and their partner were able to respond to questions asked by the Committee concerning the report.

 

The applicant, their partner and the Licensing Manager left the meeting at this point and did not return.

 

The Committee agreed unanimously that there were no exceptional circumstances to warrant a departure from the Taxi Licensing Policy and refused to grant the licence.

 

RESOLVED:

To refuse to grant the application for a vehicle to be licensed as a Private Hire vehicle.

 

Reason for decision:

The Committee refused to grant the application as they did not feel that there were exceptional circumstances.