Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meetings of the Licensing Committee held on 13 March 2018 and 21 May 2018 as published.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the Committee held on 13 March 2018 and 21 May 2018 be approved and signed as a true and correct record.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors L Lyons and R Mohammed.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary and other interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

To consider any business that the Chairman rules may be dealt with under Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no items of Urgent Business.

Reporting Person – Joanne McIntosh

The Committee received a report which proposed that the Licensing Authority undertake consultation on the Gambling Statement of Policy and that authority be delegated to the Legal Services Manager, in consultation with the Chairman, to consider any representations received and publish the amended Policy with minor amendments if appropriate.

Joanne McIntosh, Legal Services Manager, advised that the consultation period would be around a month and involve engagement with authorities and interested parties, leading to the revised Policy expected to be implemented in around two months’ time.  The Chairman noted that there had been a reduction in gambling machines at public houses in recent times due to customers being more likely to use mobile devices instead. 

The Committee thanked Jon Herbert, Licensing Officer, for his work on the report.

RESOLVED

That  (i)      the Licensing Authority undertakes consultation on the Gambling Statement of Policy; and

          (ii)     authority be delegated to the Legal Services Manager in consultation with the Chairman of the Licensing Committee to consider any representations and publish the Statement of Gambling Policy, with minor amendments if and where appropriate.

Reporting Persons – Matt Cobb and Jon Herbert

The Committee received a report which referred to the Council’s aspiration to consider the deployment of a an electric vehicle Hackney Carriage fleet.  The report advised that the Council had commissioned Electric Blue’s Evolve Taxi Evaluation Project to undertake an assessment of 25 taxis, which would set out information such as how how many miles had been driven and the locations to and from.  A report would then be provided for the Licensing Authority to determine whether the project was worth further consideration, which would also be shared with the participating drivers.

Following questions by the Committee it was noted that the drivers would remain completely anonymous; there would be no cost incurred by them, with the cost to the Council being circa £7,000; there was no commitment for the Council to work with Electric Blue beyond the assessment; and all that would be required would be for Electric Blue to install a small device into the participating vehicles.  The Licensing Authority was in the process of writing to taxi drivers to seek volunteers.  Councillor Ali stated that there were a number of questions he would like to ask and agreed to pass them to Jon Herbert outside the meeting.

The Chairman stated that the report was for information and the Committee would be kept updated of any further work arising from the assessment.  It was noted that a number of local authorities were also considering the introduction of electric taxi vehicles.

RESOLVED

That the report be noted.