Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Will Fletcher and Lucy King.

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B) 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to be considered.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a)  any business on the agenda

b)  any urgent additional items to be considered

c)  any matters arising out of those items

and if appropriate, withdraw from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 20^th December 2022.

Moved by Councillor Mary Dooley and Seconded by Councillor Rita Turner

RESOLVED that the minutes of a General Licensing Committee held on 20^th December 2022 be approved as a correct record.

The Chair opened the meeting and invited the Licensing and Enforcement Officer to provide a Verbal Report into the CCTV in Taxis’ Update.

The Licensing and Enforcement Officer stated that the CCTV in Taxis Policy had been fully implemented and Licensing had wanted to provide the Committee a brief overview.

Some exemption requests were submitted to the Policy, with 8 pending requests over three applications (each application will have a number of vehicles each); these 8 vehicles would need to be seen by the General Licensing Sub-Committee.

The General Licensing Sub-Committee have granted 18 exemptions to the Policy, and of those 18, 11 vehicles were with one operator. This is because there is a large executive transport livelihood in the district.

CCTV is installed in 76 of BDC’s vehicles. Pending exemptions were likely to be ongoing as BDC will receive new applications. Some applicants were also waiting for more information from Nottinghamshire County Council and Derbyshire County Council.

For review, in 2020 BDC had 174 licensed vehicles. In 2021 BDC had 122 (due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this dropped as Licensed Holders did not renew their licenses). In 2022, there were 108 licensed vehicles. In March 2023, there were 99 licensed vehicles. When completing the Report, the Licensing and Enforcement Officer stated that on the day before the Committee, there had been 102 licensed vehicles. This figure would change daily as licenses expired and new applications for licenses were made.

Some issues had been encountered with a number of school contracts – this was with Nottinghamshire County Council and Derbyshire County Council. BDC was also wating for more information from applicants to provide information, but the Licensing and Enforcement Officer stated they believed Councillors were already aware of these stumbling blocks.

The Licensing Team were also in the process of providing guidance leaflets. These would be printed out and posted shortly, and intended for inform passengers and encourage license holders on how to correctly use the system.

The Licensing and Enforcement Officer stated the Licensing Team consider the Policy had been fully implemented and did not intend to come back to the Committee with further updates.

With the Verbal Report completed, the Chair opened the Committee floor for any questions.

A Member stated that the CCTV in Taxis Policy had been devised to keep people safe, and the former General Licensing Committee had been happy to deliver this Policy and would have been happy to know it was working. The success of the Policy was testament to how forward thinking the previous Council was when it was implemented.

The Chair agreed, stating they had been made aware of some reluctance from a number of operators and drivers who had been dragged kicking and screaming to abide by the Policy, but people were reassured it was for their own safety.

The Chair thanked all those present for their work, to get the Policy in place and for the work following it up. With no more questions, the Chair asked for a  ...  view the full minutes text for item GLC10-20/21