Agenda and minutes

Licensing & Appeals Committee - Tuesday, 26th March, 2024 6.00 pm

Venue: Council Chamber, Town Hall, Bank Road Matlock DE4 3NN

Contact: Democratic Services 

Media

Items
No. Item

386/23

Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 155 KB

05 December 2023

Minutes:

It was moved by Councillor Marilyn Franks, seconded by Councillor Peter Dobbs and

 

RESOLVED

 

That the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Appeals Committee held on 5th December 2023 be approved as a correct record.

 

Voting

 

08 For

00 Against

02 Abstentions

 

The Chair declared the motion CARRIED.

387/23

Interests

Members are required to declare the existence and nature of any interests they may have in subsequent agenda items in accordance with the District Council’s Code of Conduct. Those interests are matters that relate to money or that which can be valued in money, affecting the Member, her/his partner, extended family and close friends. Interests that become apparent at a later stage in the proceedings may be declared at the time.

Minutes:

Item 6 - Review of House-To-House and Street Collections Licensing Policy

 

Councillor Steve Wain declared a non-pecuniary interest due to being a member of the Royal British Legion and occasionally collecting donations for them.

 

Councillor Joanne Linthwaite declared a non-pecuniary interest due to volunteering to collect donations for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.

 

Councillor Marilyn Franks declared a non-pecuniary interest due to being a member of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and occasionally collecting donations for them.

388/23

Public Participation

To enable members of the public to ask questions, express views or present petitions, IF NOTICE HAS BEEN GIVEN, (by telephone, in writing or by email) BY NO LATER THAN 12 NOON OF THE WORKING DAY PRECEDING THE MEETING. As per Procedural Rule 14.4 at any one meeting no person may submit more than 3 questions and no more than 1 such question may be asked on behalf of one organisation.

 

Minutes:

Mr John Greenhough spoke on Item 5, Request for Exemption from Taxi Licensing Policy Requirement Maximum Age Limit for Licensed Vehicles.

389/23

Request for Exemption from Taxi Licensing Policy Requirement Maximum Age Limit for Licensed Vehicles pdf icon PDF 107 KB

This report seeks consideration of an application for an exemption from the Council’s Taxi Licensing Policy’s vehicle maximum age limit.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Licensing Manger introduced a report which requested that Members consider an application for an exemption from the Council’s Taxi Licensing Policy’s vehicle maximum age limit.

 

Members were informed that the Council’s Taxi Licensing Policy required that any vehicle to be licensed as a taxi (hackney carriage) or a private hire vehicle would not be more than 10 years old at the time of licensing. This meant that when a licensed vehicle passed the tenth year of registration, the taxi/private hire vehicle licence could not be automatically renewed as it no longer complied with policy requirements.

 

A request had been received from Mr John Greenhough, Area Director for 24 x 7 ltd, for an exemption from the 10-year age limit in respect of fully wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAV) currently licensed by the Council but approaching 10 years of age.

 

The 6 vehicles that Mr Greenhough wished to re-license, after each had passed 10 years of age, were listed in his request to the Committee for an exemption in Appendix 1. A brief licensing history and the age of each vehicle was summarised in Appendix 2.

 

It was moved by Councillor Geoff Bond, seconded by Councillor John Bointon and

 

RESOLVED (unanimously)

 

1.    That having considered the request for an exemption from the Council’s Taxi Licensing Policy requirements, authority be delegated to the Licensing Manager to approve a variation to the age limit for all 6 vehicles on the list (at Appendix 2 to the report) to 13 years.

 

2.    That at the discretion of the lead mechanic, up to a maximum of 3 inspections on these vehicles a year be carried out as necessary.

 

The Chair declared the motion CARRIED.

390/23

Review of House-To-House and Street Collections Licensing Policy pdf icon PDF 90 KB

This report seeks the Committee’s consideration of the draft House-to-House and Street Collection Policy detailed in Appendix 1.

 

Approval is sought for Officers to carry out a consultation exercise on an agreed draft Policy, with a view to referring it to full Council for consideration for adoption and republishing by 1st August 2024.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Licensing Manager introduced a report which sought the Committee’s consideration of the draft House-to-House and Street Collections Policy. Approval was sought for Officers to carry out a consultation exercise on an agreed draft Policy, with a view to referring it to full Council for consideration for adoption and republishing by 1st August 2024.

 

It was noted that the District Council was the Licensing Authority for Charitable Street Collections under Section 5 of the Police, Factories etc. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916 and Charitable House to House Collections under the House-to-House Collections Act 1939.

 

The current Policy was approved by the Council and took effect from 1st July 2021 with a view that a further review would be carried out 3 years later. In the interim period the Policy had been kept under review, and any legislative or administrative changes required had been made to the draft Policy document.

 

It was noted that to date the Policy has worked well; there had not been any complaints or issues in the way the service had been administered during the last 3 years. It was also noted that a 6-week consultation exercise should be undertaken to ensure that stakeholders of the service would have the opportunity to influence any required changes.

 

It was moved by Councillor Lucy Peacock, seconded by Councillor Geoff Bond and

 

RESOLVED (unanimously)

 

That Officers be approved to carry out the consultation exercise on the draft House-to-House and Street Collections Policy, following implementation of the proposed updates to the draft Policy relating to complaints, GDPR and modern payment methods.

 

The Chair declared the motion CARRIED.