Agenda and minutes

Members are requested to advise the Democratic Services Officer of any apologies for this meeting.

Councillors Crosby, Davies, Roberts, Talbot and Whittingham.

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 September 2024 are attached. 

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 September 2024 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.   

The Committee is asked to consider whether by resolution to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the items of business marked with an 'E' reference because of the possibility of the disclosure of exempt information.  A draft resolution is attached for use by the Committee if it so wishes.

Resolved: The public is excluded from the meeting when the Committee discusses the following items for the reasons set out below:

Report of Director - Environment is attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director – Environment, Paul Barton, presented by the Licensing Manager, Joanne Brockley, which detailed a proposed change to the policy and criteria for the Allocation of Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licences.

It was proposed that the additional point highlighted below was added to the existing criteria within the policy, in order to protect the integrity and overall principle of the policy:-

“This policy sets out Wigan Council’s approach where there is availability for a hackney carriage vehicle licence to be granted. This policy would be followed in the following scenarios:

?           the natural expiry of a licence;

?           the revocation of a licence;

?           the refusal to renew a licence;

?           the surrender of a licence; or

?           if new licences became available, over and above the limit of 136.

The successful applicant will not be permitted to transfer the licence within the first 2 years, following the allocation. If during this period the licence holder no longer wishes to hold the licence, the licence should be returned to the Council for re-allocation in line with the policy.”

During its discussions, the Committee raised the following salient points:-

?           whether the amendment to the policy would apply to previously allocated Hackney Carriage Licences; and

?           whether the 2 year period specified in the amendment was fixed, or could be changed.

The Licensing Manager informed the Committee that the amendment to the policy would only apply to any Hackney Carriage Licence that was granted, following its addition to the policy.

The Licensing Manager advised Members that the 2 years stated in the amendment was not a fixed period, and could be either increased, or decreased as the Committee wished.

Resolved: The Committee:-

(1)     approves the immediate amendment to the policy and criteria for the Allocation of Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licences (where there is availability for a Hackney Carriage Vehicle licence to be granted) as outlined within the report; and

(2)     requests that the timeframe outlined for the permitted transfer of a licence (as outlined in the amendment), be increased from 2 to 5 years.

Report of the Director - Environment is attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director – Environment, presented by the Licensing Manager, which sought approval of the allocation of two Hackney Carriage Vehicle licences which had become available, in line with the policy and criteria for the Allocation of Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licences.

In accordance with the policy, following the natural expiry of two Hackney Carriage Vehicle licences, all existing Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Drivers were contacted to invite them to submit expressions of interest in relation to said licences. The closing date for expressions of interest was Monday 25 November 2024, with a total of 66 expressions of interest having been submitted.

Of the 66 expressions of interest, only 10 drivers met the criteria outlined within the policy, with this having then been reduced to 9 drivers, due to the expiration of the Hackney Carriage Driver Licence of one of the drivers.

In relation to the Hackney Carriage Vehicle licences, the policy stated:-

?         Those that meet the criteria will then be entered into a ‘draw’.

?         All successful expressions of interest will be recorded on the Licensing database and allocated a unique reference. Each expression of interest will then be placed into sealed envelopes, and a ‘tombola style draw’ shall be carried out at the next meeting of the Regulation Committee.

?         At this meeting, an envelope shall be drawn (for each licence that is available) and the unique reference numbers relating to each individual will be recorded.

A draw then took place, with the Chairman and the Vice Chairman drawing out the unique reference numbers in the following order:-

(1)  954374

(2)  954302

(3)  954295

(4)  954378

(5)  954292

(6)  954263

(7)  954276

(8)  954293

(9)  954280

Resolved: The Committee approves that:-

(1)  in line with the Allocation of Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licences policy, the two individuals associated with the unique reference numbers 954374 and 954302, be given a period of 2 months in which to submit a satisfactory application in line with the specified criteria and pass a vehicle inspection;

(2)  on the expiry of the 2 months from the meeting, should the first or second individual not have successfully submitted a satisfactory application and passed a vehicle inspection, the opportunity will then be given to the individual who was drawn third. This process will then continue in the order of the draw, should any individual not complete the application process within the specified period; and

(3)  in the event that satisfactory applications are not submitted from any of the 10 individuals drawn at the meeting, the Council will begin the process again and invite further expressions of interest, in accordance with the policy.

Report of Director - Environment is attached.

The Committee considered a report of the Director – Environment, presented by the Licensing Officer, Lyndsey Gallagher, which detailed an investigation which had involved an individual who held a Private Hire Operator Licence and a Private Hire Driver Licence with the Council.

The Committee was informed that on 25 and 31 October 2024, the Licensing Authority had received complaints from members of the public in relation to a licensed Private Hire Operator and Driver knowingly using an unlicensed vehicle to carry out pre-booked private hire work.

The driver attended the meeting and answered questions of the Committee.

In reaching its decision, the Committee took into account all evidence and representations provided, the circumstances surrounding the incident and all relevant guidelines.

Resolved: The Committee revokes the driver’s current Private Hire Driver Licence, refuses the application to renew the Private Hire Driver Licence, and revokes the Private Hire Operator Licence on the grounds that the individual is not a fit and proper to hold said licences.