Agenda and minutes
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Election of Chairman Minutes: A nomination for Chairman was received in respect of Councillor R. L. Dent.
RESOLVED that Councillor R. L. Dent be elected as Chairman for the remainder of the municipal year.
Councillor R. L. Dent expressed the Committee’s thanks to Councillor B. T. Cooper for his hard work as Chairman of the Licensing Committee. |
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Apologies Minutes: An apology for absence was received from Councillor P.L. Thomas. The Committee was advised that Councillor M. A. Sherrey was attending as the substitute member for Councillor P. L. Thomas. |
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Declarations of Interest To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests. Minutes: No declarations of interest were received. |
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Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 13th June 2016 were submitted.
Councillor C. M. McDonald drew Members’ attention to the RESOLVED item as detailed at Minute No. 9/16, (b) “that the findings be brought back to a future meeting of the Licensing Committee”. Councillor McDonald questioned this, as she thought it was agreed at the Licensing Committee meeting on 13th June 2016, that the findings would be brought back to the next Licensing Committee meeting on 12th September 2016, and that in light of the meeting being cancelled, the findings should have been brought to tonight’s meeting.
The Democratic Services Officer reported that this item had been included on the Licensing Committee Work Programme to be allocated to a suitable date in 2017/2018.
In response to a suggestion by the Chairman, Councillor C. M. McDonald agreed with the findings being brought back to the next meeting of the Licensing Committee on Monday 13th March 2017 and that the Licensing Committee Work Programme 2016/2017 be updated to reflect this.
RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 13th June 2016 be approved as a correct record. |
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Draft Scrap Metal Licensing Policy - Consultation Results Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee received a report which detailed the consultation responses received on the draft Scrap Metal Licensing Policy and Guidelines for the licensing of scrap metal sites and collectors in the District and the finalised version of the Scrap Metal Licensing Policy and Guidelines following consultation.
The Senior Practitioner, Licensing, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), introduced the report and in doing so reminded the Committee that the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 (the Act), came into force on 1st October 2013, with full enforcement powers coming into effect on 1st December 2013.
A draft Scrap Metal Licensing Policy and Guidelines was produced in order to provide clear guidance as to how the Council would administer and enforce the requirements of the Act.
The draft Scrap Metal Licensing Policy and Guidelines were prepared in accordance with the Act and the regulations that governed it. At the Licensing Committee meeting held on 13th June 2016, Members approved the draft Scrap Metal Licensing Policy and Guidelines for the purpose of consultation.
Consultation subsequently took place with the relevant partners and representatives of the metal recycling industry. Only one response was received, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report. The response was received from Mr. Robin Edwards a Director of Obis Consultancy, who was part of the team that drafted the guidance on the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, when the Act was first being implemented. Members were asked to note that Mr. Edwards saw no issues with the draft Scrap Metal Licensing Policy and Guidelines and wished to commend the Council for reinforcing the importance of the Act to the recycling industry.
The Senior Practitioner, Licensing, WRS responded to questions from Members and highlighted that a multi-agency enforcement check had been carried out which had also involved the Environment Agency. No legal action had been taken as a result of those checks.
The first set of renewal applications was due at the end of November 2016. Should Members approve the Scrap Metal Licensing Policy and Guidelines, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report, a copy of the approved document would be sent out with all renewal applications for help and guidance.
The Senior Practitioner, Licensing, WRS further informed and reassured the Committee that, as highlighted in Mr. Edward’s response, with regard to reports of cash returning on a daily basis; there appeared to be no evidence of the use of cash re-emerging for the payment of scrap metal in the Worcestershire area. Scrap metal dealers must only pay for scrap metal by either:-
a) a cheque (which was not transferable under Section 81A of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882); or b) electronic transfer of funds (authorised by a credit, debit card or otherwise).
As set out in the Act it was a legal requirement for scrap metal dealers to keep and produce two types of records and an audit trail detailing the receipt of scrap metal and the disposal of scrap metal.
Councillor M. T. Buxton stated that there had been ... view the full minutes text for item 15/16 |
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Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Points Scheme Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee considered a report which provided details of a Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme to use as a tool to assist officers in ensuring that holders of hackney carriage and private hire licences were compliant with the requirements they had placed upon them as licence holders.
The Senior Practitioner, Licensing, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), introduced the report and in doing so informed the Committee that the vast majority of licence holders complied with the requirements placed upon them.
The introduction of a Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Penalty Point Scheme would be to enable WRS officers to deal quickly and efficiently with minor non-compliance issues and to help identify those who were regularly not acting in compliance with their licensing requirements so that further action could be considered against the individuals in a targeted and proportionate way.
The basic principle of such a scheme was that individuals that were found to have committed relatively minor offences or acts of non-compliance would have a number of penalty points logged against their licensing records held by the authority.
If an individual accumulated a given number of penalty points, within a defined period of time, this would trigger an automatic referral of the licence holder to a Hearing of the Licensing Sub-Committee for consideration as to whether or not they remained a fit and proper person to hold such a licence.
Members were further informed that other authorities across the United Kingdom operated penalty point schemes and had received a number of legal challenges.
In order to avoid such legal challenges being successful, it was necessary to have a mechanism in place to enable appeals against the imposition of penalty points; and to ensure that any decision in respect of whether, or not, to revoke a licence, once the maximum number of permissible points had been reached, was taken at the appropriate level, based on the merits of each individual case.
WRS Officers would use the scheme as an additional mechanism for dealing with minor offences and acts of non-compliance, where there was no impending risk to the travelling public. A penalty point scheme would be used in order to assist them in addressing low level breaches of regulations and to ensure that licensed drivers remained compliant.
The holders of hackney carriage and private hire licences issued by the Council were subject to a number of legal requirements and licence conditions which governed how they conducted their business.
WRS, who acted on behalf of the Council, were responsible for ensuring that licence holders complied with these legal requirements and were responsible for taking appropriate action when dealing with any licence holders who had committed offences or had failed to comply with their legal requirements.
Currently there were a number of options available to officers from WRS when dealing with offences or acts of non-compliance, as summarised:-
The way in which offences and acts of ... view the full minutes text for item 16/16 |
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Licensing Committee Work Programme Minutes: The Committee considered the Work Programme for 2016/2017.
RESOLVED that, the Licensing Committee Work Programme be updated to include the items discussed and agreed during the course of the meeting. |