Agenda item

Report of the Licensing Manager

Purpose of Report

The Committee is requested to consider and approve the draft West Northamptonshire Council Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Licensing Policy Post-Consultation, considering responses received during the consultation process.

**Please note that, due to the size of the document, Appendix B (All Consultation Responses) has been published as a separate addendum to this agenda**

Recommendations

The Committee is recommended to:

1.1  Approve the final draft of the West Northamptonshire Council Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Licensing Policy and associated appendices after considering responses received during the consultation process.

1.2  Delegate authority to the Assistant Director – Regulatory Services in consultation with the Chair of Taxi & General Licensing Committee to make any minor and consequential amendments to the policy once made an if required by law.

Resolved

(1)  That, having given due consideration to the responses received during the consultation process, the final draft of the West Northamptonshire Council Private Vehicle Hire and Hackney Carriage Licensing Policy and its associated appendices be approved, subject to a number of amendments to the draft policy which shall be set out in the minutes.

(2)  That authority be delegated to the Assistant Director – Regulatory Services in consultation with the Chair of the Taxi & General Licensing Committee to make any minor and consequential amendments to the Policy once made and if required by law.

The Committee considered the report of the Licensing Manager which sought approval of the new West Northamptonshire Council Private Hire Vehicle and Hackney Carriage and Licensing Policy post-consultation, considering the responses received during the consultation process.

The Assistant Director – Regulatory Services and the Licensing Manager provided a presentation which outlined the key details of the report, and reiterated to Members that whilst the draft policy and its contents had already previously been approved by the Committee for consultation in early 2023, the policy remained a living, breathing document and its implementation and operation once in force would be regularly reviewed by the Licensing team, in partnership with the local taxi trade and other stakeholders.

In response to questions from the Committee regarding the implementation period for the policy, the Assistant Director – Regulatory Services provided assurances that there would be a lead-in period for many elements of the policy, with approximately three months allowed for signage changes.

The Assistant Director – Regulatory Services also reiterated that the proposed penalty points system was designed to be an open and transparent method of dealing with breaches of the policy, with each case ultimately being dealt with on its own merits, with a maximum of 24 penalty points permitted to be incurred on a licence in any rolling three year period, with any driver in breach of this being placed before a Sub-Committee for an assessment of their fitness an propriety to retain their licence. 

On vehicle specifications and emissions, the Assistant Director – Regulatory Services highlighted that it was considered reasonable that existing licenced vehicles be granted grandfather rights until the purchase of a new vehicle became a necessity, and that Licensing Officers would continue to review amendments to the vehicle specifications in line with any developments in the make and model of licenced vehicles.

In response to concerns raised at the October meeting of the Committee surrounding criminal record checks, the Assistant Director – Regulatory Services confirmed that all applicants would be required to provide an enhanced DBS check, and once granted a licence, all licensees would be required to subscribe to the DBS Update Service at their expense.

On the proposed Certificate of Good Conduct, the Licensing Manager explained that, as DBS checks do not cover criminal history in countries outside the United Kingdom, any applicant who had lived abroad for any period of more than six months from the age of 18 must also provide, at their expense, a certificate of Good conduct from the appropriate Embassy or High Commission. The Licensing Manger also reiterated that, should the Certificate of Good Conduct highlight any criminal history from an applicant’s place of residence outside of the United Kingdom, such matters would be dealt with in the same way as a positive DBS disclosure and referred to a Sub-Committee Hearing for consideration to assess the applicant or the licensee’s fitness and propriety to hold a licence.

At the conclusion of the presentation, Councillor Gareth Eales set out a series of proposed amendments to the draft policy, which were designed to address a number of concerns previously raised by the local taxi trade and provide clarity on a number of points within the draft policy. Once the amendments had been debated, it was proposed by Councillor Gareth Eales and seconded by Councillor Sally Beardsworth that the proposed amendments to the draft policy (annexe to the minutes) be adopted. The motion was put to the vote with seven votes cast in favour of the proposal and one cast against, therefore the motion was carried, and the amendments to the Policy were adopted.

It was then proposed by Councillor Gareth Eales and seconded by Councillor Sally Beardsworth that the final draft of the West Northamptonshire Council Private Vehicle Hire and Hackney Carriage Licensing Policy be approved as amended. The motion was put to the vote with seven votes cast in favour of the proposal and one vote cast against, therefore the motion was carried, and the Policy was approved as amended by the earlier motion.

Resolved

(1)  That, having given due consideration to the responses received during the consultation process, the final draft of the West Northamptonshire Council Private Vehicle Hire and Hackney Carriage Licensing Policy and its associated appendices be approved, subject to a number of amendments to the draft policy (annexe to the minutes) as agreed. 

(2)  That authority be delegated to the Assistant Director – Regulatory Services in consultation with the Chair of the Taxi & General Licensing Committee to make any minor and consequential amendments to the Policy once made and if required by law.