Agenda and minutes

The Democratic Services Officer advised the meeting of the procedure.

RESOLVED that a Vice-Chair was not required on this occasion.

Apologies were received from Councillor Sue Craig, for whom Councillor Shelley Bromley substituted.

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.

There were none.

To be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

These were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Team Manager (Licensing and Environmental Protection) presented the report.

She explained that the current Policy on Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Standards for Drivers, Vehicles and Operators was agreed by Cabinet in December 2018. At the time the policy was prepared it was known that there was likely to be a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in Bath, and that taxi vehicles would be required to be compliant. The CAZ policy had developed since 2018 with an outline business case and a final business case, which had been approved last month. Concessions and exemptions had been introduced to the policy to mitigate its immediate impact on certain groups, including an exemption from CAZ charges for wheelchair-accessible taxis until 31 December 2020, giving them an additional two years to achieve compliance. The Cabinet had agreed the business case for this in January of this year, prior to its submission to the Joint Air Quality Unit for formal approval, which could be given sometime in February. The Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Licensing Standards needed to be amended to make them consistent with the CAZ policy. There were about 30 wheelchair-accessible taxi vehicles in Bath, of which about 10 were already CAZ-compliant.

Members agreed that the proposed amendment was reasonable and necessary and RESOLVED:

1.  To endorse the proposed amendment to the Policy which reflects the concession that wheelchair-accessible licenced vehicles are exempt from charge to entering the CAZ until 31 December 2022.

2.  To recommend that the amended policy, together with any responses to a further period of consultation with the taxi trade, be referred to Cabinet for ratification, thereby ensuring that the Policy and the CAZ scheme are in alignment.

The Senior Public Protection Officer gave a presentation to the Committee. She was assisted by the Public Protection Technical Officer, the Specialist Officer (Environmental Protection) and the Environmental Protection Manager. A copy of the PowerPoint slides is attached to these minutes as Appendix 1.

Officers responded to questions and comments from Members.

The Chair asked about crime, disorder and nuisance caused by people attending an event away from the premises at which the event was held. What could Members do in these cases? The Senior Public Protection Officer replied that it was certainly worth reporting such incidents to the Police and to Environmental Protection. Complaints give a picture of what is happening in the local area. A representation about a repeat of an event could be based on alleged previous mismanagement or a breach of the law, such as selling alcohol to intoxicated persons.

Members thanked officers for the presentation.

The Committee is invited to comment on proposed advice for licensed businesses on how they can support the climate change agenda

Team Manager (Licensing and Environmental Protection) and the Public Protection Technical Officer gave a presentation to the Committee and responded to comments and questions from Members. A copy of the PowerPoint slides is attached to the minutes as Appendix 2.

A Member wondered whether shops which participated in the refill tap water scheme would be compensated for the cost of the water, or whether they would simply be expected to show community spirit. She suggested that shops near schools would find their water bills increased by supplying water to many school children. The Senior Public Protection Officer pointed out that licensed premises are under a statutory obligation to provide free water to customers. The Team Manager (Licensing and Environmental Protection)  said there was no means of compensating participants in the scheme financially. The Environmental Protection Manager said that his experience was that the offer of free tap water by businesses attracted more customers to visit them, therefore helping to offset the costs of doing so.

Members noted that many business premises keep their lights on all nearly all the time, and suggested that they should be advised about other approaches to security with educational information like that used in the ‘Close the Door’ campaign.

A Member noted that delivery vehicles offer hinder the progress of traffic, thus increasing emissions, and suggested that consideration should be given to encouraging businesses to have deliveries outside of peak hours.

Members thanked officers for the presentation.