Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors H. D. N. Rone-Clarke and M. A. Sherrey.

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.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 29^th September 2022 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held 29^th September 2022, be approved as a correct record.

Following on from the Licensing Committee meeting held on 19^th September 2022, whereby Members approved for the purpose of consultation, the proposals to amend parts of the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing Policy; with regard to vehicle age limits and testing arrangements for licensed vehicles.

Members were asked to consider the responses received to the consultation, as detailed at Appendix 2 to the report; the suggested Vehicle Age Limits, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report; and the draft, revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, as detailed at Appendix 3 to the report.

The Principal Officer (Licensing), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), informed the Committee that as detailed in the report; at the Licensing Committee meeting held on 14^th March 2022, the Committee approved the adoption of a new Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy which took effect on 1^st September 2022.

Towards the end of that meeting, Members also discussed the Work

Programme for 2021/22 and requested that reports be presented to future

meetings of the Committee as follows: -

As detailed in the preamble above, at the meeting held on 19^th September 2022,

Members of the Licensing Committee considered a report as presented by

officers to try and address those requests and to set out the details of some

of the dialogue that had taken place between officers and representatives of

hackney carriage and private hire drivers licensed by the Council in respect of

the current vehicle age policies.

Members’ attention was drawn to paragraph 3.6 in the report and pages 18

and19 of the report, which highlighted the Council’s current policy on the

licensing of vehicles to be used as a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle

and the requirements in respect of the age of the vehicle.

Currently licensed vehicles that were less than 7 years of age were required to

be examined at the Council’s Depot once per year, just before a licence for the

vehicle was granted or renewed. Vehicles that were over the age of 7 years

were also required to have a further examination 6 months after the licence for

the vehicle had taken effect.

Following consideration of the officer’s report, Members had requested that

officers carried out a consultation on amending the vehicle age limits to those

detailed at Appendix 1to the report. Members further requested that officers

carried out a consultation on amending the vehicle testing arrangements as

follows: -

Following on from the Licensing Committee meeting held on 11^th July 2022, whereby Members approved for the purpose of consultation, the draft revised Sex Establishment Licensing Policy.

Members were asked to consider the responses received to the consultation for the purposes of adopting the revised Sex Establishment Licensing Policy, as detailed at Appendix 2 to the report.

The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 (“the Act”) as amended, allowed local authorities to adopt provisions concerning the regulation of sex establishments. Under the Act there was no legal requirement for the Council to adopt a policy on how it proposed to licence sex establishments under the Act. However, it was considered best practice for a Council to adopt such a policy to encourage consistency and transparency in the way that its licensing functions were carried out.

Members were further informed that there were no such establishments in the District and that there had been none for the last 10/12 years, and no enquiries about opening such an establishment had ever been made. However, as detailed in the preamble above, it was considered good practice to adopt such a policy.

The Principal Officer (Licensing), WRS, drew Members attention to section 3.21 in the report, which detailed the list of those consulted with. The consultation exercise was carried out between 7^th October to 7^th December 2022. The consultation exercise was also hosted on the Council’s website and also publicised via social media channels.

The only response received was sent on behalf of The Director of Public Health for Worcestershire, which had requested that The Director of Public Health be added to the list of consultees and were notified of applications received, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report.

Officers were in agreement that this was an appropriate amendment and therefore the revised policy was updated.

In response to questions from Members with regard to the “display of nudity” means -, as detailed on page 143 of the main agenda report; officers explained that the definition was taken directly from the Act.

RESOLVED that the revised, draft Sex Establishment Licensing Policy, as detailed at Appendix 2 to the report, be approved with effect from 1st April 2023.

The Committee noted the Work Programme for 2022/2023. Officers briefly explained that the Work Programme would be updated for the new municipal year 2023/2024.

RESOLVED that the Licensing Committee Work Programme for 2022/2023, be noted.