Agenda and minutes

            The minutes of the meetings held on 14^th January 2013 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

            At a previous meeting held on 10^th April 2012 the Committee decided that a review of the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle conditions be undertaken in the Borough.

            Subsequently on 11 April 2012 members of the Taxi Consultative Group were advised of the review and asked for their comments and reasons for their comments in writing. As a result 1 response was received from one member of the trade, which together with other relevant information and proposals for the Licenced Vehicle Conditions were reported back to the meeting of the Taxi Consultative Group on 26 July 2012. The matters considered at this meeting included:

·         retain rules on maximum age of all vehicles;

·         introduce a minimum age condition;

·         prohibit roof pods on Hackney Carriage Vehicles;

·         clarify rules on renewal of expired Hackney Carriage Licences; and

·         clarify rules on duration of vehicle licences.

At this meeting, members of the group made comments on the proposals and were requested to make recommendations/comments in writing to the Licensing Section. The deadline for responses was 18^th January 2013 and no responses were received by the deadline. However an email was received after the deadline and details of this were reported at the meeting.

It was noted that the current moratorium relating to the age of vehicles (adopted by the Committee on 10^th April 2012) was not affected by this review.

RESOLVED: That the Policy Revisions to the Councils Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle conditions as outlined at Appendix B of the agenda item together with the provisions related to Effective Date and Grandfather Rights as set out at Appendix C of the agenda item (with the exception of Topic Number 4 - Luggage Space which following consideration will not be amended at present and will be revisited at a later date) be adopted as Council policy.           

NB: To avoid any allegation of bias Councillor Fraser declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in the following item of business as he knew the applicant and he left the room.

PART II

In this case the Board has a discretion to exclude the press and public and, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, it is RECOMMENDED that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, having been satisfied that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

The Board considered:

(1)       whether Members of the press and public should be excluded from the meeting of the Board during consideration of the following item of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be considered, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraphs 1 and 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972; and

(2)       whether the disclosure of information was in the public interest, whether any relevant exemptions were applicable and whether, when applying the public interest test and exemptions, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed that in disclosing the information.

            RESOLVED: That as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, members of the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business in accordance with Sub-Section 4 of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraphs 1 and 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

            The Committee considered a request for an exemption from age restrictions on licensed Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicles as set out in Halton Borough Council conditions 2.1.2 (conditions adopted 19 March 2007).

            RESOLVED: That the application be refused.  The applicant may, subject to the usual application and tests apply to renew the licence until its expiry in July 2014 if an exemption to age restrictions is still required he will be entitled to apply again to the Committee for an extension prior to July 2014.