Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of Licensing and Appeals Committee held on 28 November 2017

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Appeals Committee held on 28 November 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive the Minutes of the meetings of the Licensing and Appeals Committee sitting as a Panel held on the following dates

7 December 2017

5 February 2018

16 February 2018

RESOLVED:   That the Minutes of the meetings of the Licensing and Appeals Committee sitting as a Panel held on 7 December 2017, 5 February and 16 February 2018 be received and noted.

Report on the outcome of the consultation on the existing Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy

Further to Minute LA 17/51, the report of the Director of Central Services and Monitoring Officer provided feedback from the consultation on the draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy for 2018 - 2023.  The report highlighted the proposed changes to the current policy, the responses received to the consultation and officers’ comments and recommendations thereon.

RECOMMENDED:  That the proposed changes to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy set out at Annex 1 to the report be approved together with the recommendations at Annex 3 to the report and, in relation to the comment on Green Electric Cars, reference be made in the Policy to there being no restriction on the number of seats to allow applications for vehicles with room for one passenger to be considered on their merits.

*Referred to Council

Review of the time, cost and effectiveness of administering the Probationary licence programme.

The report of the Director of Central Services and Monitoring Officer gave details of a review of the time, costs and effectiveness of administering the private hire probationary badge licence programme.  It was recommended that Probationary Badges be discontinued on the grounds of time and costs of administration and the potential safeguarding issues identified. 

Members discussed the rationale of the probationary licence system when it was introduced and its success when mentors fulfilled their intended role.  However, it was noted that Tonbridge and Malling was almost unique in operating such an arrangement and the large number of probationary badges being issued had implications for cross-border working and the ability to target enforcement activity.  It was therefore proposed to undertake a period of consultation prior to further consideration by the Committee and all Members of the Council would be encouraged to submit their views.

RESOLVED:  That the discontinuance of the Probationary Private Hire Licence be subject to consultation and report back as set out in the report.

The Chairman to move that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting during consideration of any items the publication of which would disclose exempt information.

There were no items considered in private.