Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, Councillors of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to declare interests where appropriate.

No disclosures of interests were made.

All Councillors of the Committee confirmed that they had received some form(s) of lobbying in respect of Agenda item 5 Public Consultation Findings Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Livery.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the Licensing Committee held on 5 November 2018.

The minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 5 November 2018, approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Minutes relating to the following meetings of the Licensing Sub Committee are attached for approval as a correct record:-

·         List of Licensing Sub Committees:

·         Meeting held on 7 November 2018. Application to Review the Premises Licence applicable to the MOONRAKER, 199 Three Bridges Road, Three Bridges, Crawley

Chaired by Councillor C J Mullins (Appendix A)

·         Meeting held on 12 February 2019.  Application to Vary the ‘Club Premises Certificate’ – Crawley Masonic Club, St Margaret’s Hall, Ifield Green, Crawley

Chaired by Councillor K L Jaggard (Appendix B)

The minutes of the Licensing Sub Committee listed below were approved as a correct record and signed by the Councillor indicated below:-

To consider report HCS/13of the Head of Community Services (Interim).

The Licensing Committee considered report HCS/13 by the Head of Community Services. The Committee was guided through each paragraph of the report by the Environmental Health and Licensing Manager, which detailed the results of a consultation exercise conducted in connection with a request from the Trade for a change to the Council’s policy to allow the use of temporary (magnetic) livery signs. The Committee was asked to consider whether to amend the current vehicle livery conditions that required permanent signage.

The Committee then received a presentation by Ralph Sutcliffe from The Survey Initiative, on the recent taxi licensing consultation ‘Have your say on Taxi Vehicle Signage’ survey 2018. A copy of the full presentation is attached to these minutes as Appendix A. It was noted that there had been 355 responses returned with the responses being spilt into two categories: either from Hackney Carriage Drivers and Private Hire Drivers (Trade) or the general public, which included stakeholders (public). From the Trade, the response rate was 25% with 233 out of 937 responding to a paper questionnaire mailed to their home addresses. There were 111 public responses, including 11 responses from stakeholders, via the Council’s website.

It was explained that the survey’s findings showed there appeared to be directly opposite views by the Trade compared to the views of the general public on the matter of permanent signage compared to removable signage, with great support from the Trade for removable signage and great support from the public for permanent signage. This included the response on the question ‘I would be confident that I was entering a genuine, licensed taxi if it was fitted with permeant signage’ with the Trade response being 32% compared to the public’s 95%, and on the related question of ‘I would be confident that I was entering a genuine, licensed taxi if it was fitted with removable signage’ the Trade view was 88% compared to the public’s 24%.

The Committee was also informed that in response to the question ‘Members of the public would use taxis less often if they were fitted with removable signage’ 79% of the public responded ‘yes’ compared to the Trade’s response of 17%.

Following the presentation, the Chair of the Licensing Committee invited a representative from both the Trade organisations, the Crawley Hackney Carriage Association (CHCA) and the Private Hire Association (PHA) as well as an officer from Sussex Police to speak to the Committee on the findings of the survey and more generally on the permanent versus removable signage livery.

Mr Ellington, spoke on behalf Crawley Hackney Carriage Association. The views he expressed included:

·         In Crawley, all the 123 hackney carriages (HC)  and many hundreds of private hire vehicles all used magnetic roof signs and those roof signs did not routinely get stolen or taken from their vehicles.

·         There was a licensed hire firm in Crawley that used magnetic doors signs, and had done so for a number of years, without any punishment from the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Committee is advised that the Review of the Statement of Licensing Policy Gambling Act 2005 for the next 3 years (2020-2023) will be going out to consultation later this year.  The Policy is a Policy Framework Document, and as such the report on the outcomes of the consultation and on the Policy as updated will be considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Commission, before its submission to the Cabinet and the Full Council in November 2019 for approval and adoption.

All Members of the Licensing Committee will have the opportunity to be consulted as part of the consultation – as consultees.  However, should the Committee wish to consider the report and consultation in order to provide a collective response, the Committee is requested to confirm, at this 10 June meeting, whether or not it would like to take that opportunity, and if so provide its collective response at its meeting on 9 September 2019.  

Recommendation

The Committee is asked to confirm whether or not it would like to provide a collective response to the consultation on the Review of the Statement of Licensing Policy Gambling Act 2005 for the next 3 years (2020-2023), and if so note that the collective response will be sought at the Committee’s meeting on 9 September 2019.

RESOLVED

The Committee agreed that it would like to provide a collective response to the consultation on the Review of the Statement of Licensing Policy Gambling Act 2005 for the next 3 years (2020-2023), and confirmed that the collective response will be sought at the Committee’s meeting on 9 September 2019.