Agenda and minutes

The Democratic Services Officer read out the procedure.

There were none.

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.

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

The Chair drew attention to the procedure to be followed for agenda items 8 and 9.

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 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 shall be excluded from the meeting for the following two  item 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.   

The Senior Public Protection Officer reported that Mr C J D had advised that he would not be able to attend today’s hearing because he would be absent on a pre-booked holiday.

Decision and Reasons

Members were asked to determine an application for a new Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Vehicle driving licence. The applicant had not attended and had sent his apologies. Members therefore had to decide whether to proceed in absence or defer the matter for the applicant to attend and present his case.

Members RESOLVED to defer the matter for the applicant’s attendance on notice that should he fail to attend for the next hearing the matter will be dealt with in his absence.

The applicant confirmed that he had received and understood the taxi procedure.

The Senior Public Protection reported that a DBS check on Mr D S M had revealed convictions. He circulated the DBS statement, a statement submitted by the applicant and three references given on his behalf. The hearing was adjourned to allow Members time to study these documents.

After the hearing was reconvened, Mr D S M stated that there was nothing he could add to his written statement. In reply to a question from a Member he stated that his personal circumstances were now stable.

Following a further adjournment the Sub-Committee RESOLVED that Mr D S M was a fit and proper person to hold a combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver’s Licence.

Reasons

Members had to determine an application for a 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.

Accordingly Members had to decide whether the licensee was a fit and proper person to hold a licence taking into account all the circumstances.

Members took account of the applicant’s written statement, references and balanced these against the information disclosed on the DBS certificate.

The applicant relied on the content of his statement and confirmed his personal circumstances were stable. As there had been no more recent offending members found him a fit and proper person and granted the licence accordingly.