Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the previous meetings held on 12^th April 2016 and 26^th April 2016, copies of which had been circulated, were taken as read, and having been approved were signed by the Chairman as a correct record of the proceedings.  Various Licensing Sub Committee meetings were also signed by the relevant councillors who had chaired those meetings.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tony Lock, Crispin Raikes and Linda Vijeh.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (adopted July 2012), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting. A DPI is defined in The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012 No. 1464) and Appendix 3 of the Council’s Code of Conduct.  A personal interest is defined in paragraph 2.8 of the Code and a prejudicial interest is defined in paragraph 2.9. In the interests of complete transparency, Members of the County Council, who are not also members of this committee, are encouraged to declare any interests they may have in any matters being discussed even though they may not be under any obligation to do so under any relevant code of conduct.

There were no declarations of interest.

a)    Questions/comments from members of the public

This is a chance for members of the public and representatives of Parish/Town Councils to participate in the meeting by asking questions, making comments and raising matters of concern.

No questions or comments were raised by members of the public.

The Licensing Manager reminded members that at the Licensing Committee meeting held on 12^th April, members had agreed the proposal for the taxi fare setting process.  He explained that a statutory notice was placed in the Western Gazette, on the Council’s Notice Board and website.  A copy of the notice was attached at Appendix A to the agenda.  He advised that no objections to the proposal had been received and was therefore recommending that the new rates take effect from 1^st August 2016.

In response to a member question, the Licensing Manager advised that taxi drivers would have to go to an authorised taxi metre agent to have their taxi metres recalibrated and bring in a certificate to the Council Offices to confirm that it had been undertaken.

The Licensing Manager advised that it was down to the individual operators to negotiate fees but they were unable to negotiate above the rate of the new fees.

Members unanimously supported the recommendations of the report.

The Licensing Manager summarised the agenda report which updated members on the numbers of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAV’s) within South Somerset. 

He explained that the reduction of 41 vehicles between the 2015 and the current return corresponded with the reduction in the number of out of area vehicles.  The new policy and the introduction of a knowledge test had made it a lot more difficult for people to apply from outside of the area.

In response to a member question, the Licensing Manager informed members that the 20% target of the total Hackney Carriage vehicle fleet being wheelchair accessible was estimated to be achieved in about 12-18 months.

Members were content to note the report.

Members noted that the next meeting of the Licensing Committee would be held on Tuesday 9th August 2016 at 10.00am in the Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil.