Agenda and minutes

The  Democratic Services Officer read out the procedure.

Apologies were received from Councillor Anthony Clarke, Councillor Patrick Anketell-Jones was his substitute.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of 6^th January 2015 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Committee is asked to consider passing the following resolution:

“that having been satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, in accordance with the provisions of Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business and the reporting of the meeting be prevented under Section 100A(5A) because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended.   

RESOLVED that, the Sub-Committee having been satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, in accordance with the provisions of section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business, because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined by paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act as amended.

The Chair drew attention to the procedure to be followed for the next item of business.

The Sub-Committee considered the report which sought determination of an application by Mr DW for the grant of a combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s licence.

Mr DW was present and confirmed he had read the procedure for the meeting.

The Senior Public Protection Officer presented the report and stated that as part of the application process a Disclosure and Barring Service check was undertaken, which had revealed two previous convictions. He circulated the Disclosure and Barring Service check and personal statement for Mr DW.  With regard to the references for Mr DW all three had been received and were positive with no reservations. The applicant and Public Protection Officer withdrew from the meeting while Members took some time to consider these documents.

Mr DW put his case, explained the circumstances of the convictions which had occurred when he was younger.  He said he had matured since that time, was a changed man with family and responsibilities and had worked for the bank for ten years.  He went on to explain the reasons he wanted the licence.  He was questioned and then made a closing statement. 

Following an adjournment it was

RESOLVED that Mr DW be granted a combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s licence subject to the standard terms and conditions.

Reasons for decision

Members have had to determine an application for a combined Hackney Carriage/ Private Hire Driver’s Licence. In doing so they took account of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, Human Rights Act 1998, case law and the Council’s Policy.

In making a determination Members took account of the applicant’s oral and written representations, his statement and balanced these against the information provided by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

The Senior Public Protection Officer indicated that Mr DW had provided three references in support of his application. Members noted that the Senior Public Protection Officer had read these references all of which were positive and expressed no reservations about Mr DW being granted a combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s Licence.

Members noted that Mr DW’s convictions were for relatively minor offences and that he has been conviction free for over 10 years.

Members felt the applicant presented himself honestly and objectively. Mr DW assured Members that he had learnt his lesson and no such incidents would happen again.

Members found Mr DW to be a fit and proper person.