Test Valley Borough Council Licensing Committee Meeting

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Ford.

There was no public participation.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no urgent items to consider.

Councillor Budzynski proposed and Councillor P Lashbrook seconded the motion that the minutes of the previous meeting were an accurate record.  Upon being put to the vote, the motion was carried.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 September 2023 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Councillor P Lashbrook proposed and Councillor Matthews seconded the motion that the minutes of the previous meeting were an accurate record.  Upon being put to the vote, the motion was carried.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 12 October 2023 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

The Licensing Manager presented the report of the Head of Legal and Democratic, which considered the response to a public consultation on a new Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy.  The new Policy would provide clarity for licensed operators, drivers, vehicle proprietors and the public as to how the Council would undertake its licensing functions.  It also sought to assist the Council in making licensing decisions.

The Council’s current Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Guidelines (Policy) was first adopted in 2007 and has been periodically revised since then. In July 2020, the Department for Transport (DfT) published Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards outlining how authorities should carry out their taxi licensing functions.

On 23 September 2021, the Licensing Committee considered the Standards and agreed a basis for public consultation on a new Policy which would address, not only those matters raised by the publication of the Standards, but also a more general review of existing policies and procedures.

The consultation responses highlighted that there was overall agreement for those matters which were proposed to form a new policy, however there some exceptions as set out in the report.

As a result, a further targeted questionnaire was produced, the results of which supported removal of the restriction, but retaining the policy of only issuing new licences for wheelchair accessible vehicles.

The Committee requested some clarity around some areas within the policy and the Licensing Manager agreed to take those comments into consideration when drafting the new policy which would come back to the committee as soon as possible, the aim being within the next 6 months.

Resolved:

1.  That the Committee considers the results of the public consultation exercise set out in Annex 1 to the report.

2.  That subject to any suggested amendments, agree that the results of the consultation form the basis of a new Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy which will be submitted to a future meeting for approval.