To receive any apologies for absence, including notifications of any changes to the membership of the Committee.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mills, Morey and Sykes.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 14 September 2017.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 14 September 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Committee considered the item in Minute 47 and not included on the agenda, the Chairman being of the opinion that it was urgent by reason of special circumstances i.e. the matter having arisen since the agenda was prepared and it was unreasonable to delay a decision until the next meeting.

Steve Cox, Environmental Health Manager (Commercial), outlined a request for a Nissan Leaf, which is an electric car, to be registered as a Private Hire Vehicle.  The car meets all the requirements of the Council’s current policy but does not have a cubic capacity as it is electric and therefore falls outside the existing Policy.  At the meeting the Committee reviewed the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Policy which includes provision for the licensing of electric cars and changing the engine requirements to brake horse power instead of cubic capacity to reflect the greener fuels and engines available in vehicles.

The Nissan Leaf has a brake horse power of 150, which compares to a minimum of 103 under the revised Policy.  Therefore this vehicle would be permitted under the revised Policy once approved.

Resolved:

That the Nissan Leaf be permitted to be licenced in light of the emerging revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Policy as it meets all the requirements of the Policy and is a greener vehicle.

The Committee considered the submitted report which set out proposed changes to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy 2016, following a full review of the Policy.  Members went through the Policy page by page and suggested a number of changes.

Resolved:

That the proposed alterations to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy as highlighted in Appendix 1, subject to the changes set out below, to the submitted report be approved to be released for full public consultation for a period of eight weeks:

(i)         paragraph 2.7 - Driver appearance to be referenced to ‘as per Appendix I’ and Driver Conduct to be referenced to ‘as per Appendix B’;

(ii)        to also consult with the Devon Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Service on the Policy;

(iii)       paragraph 5.12 to be reworded to make it clear that they are required to pass the DSA test;

(iv)       paragraph 5.17 to be highlighted with the Devon Rape Crisis and Sexual Abuse Service;

(v)        paragraph 5.26 to be reworded to read ‘... signed letter from their GP and/or other relevant medical specialist who has access to medical records’ and delete the rest of the wording to make it consistent with the previous paragraph;

(vi)       paragraph 14.24 to be amended to read 9 years instead of 10 years;

(vii)      Appendix D - livery policy to be the second option only with the vehicle being white and the wrap for private hire being red and the wrap for the hackney carriage being blue;

(viii)     additional paragraph at 14.49 to clarify the requirements for the livery policy and what happens if they do not comply;

(ix)       Appendix B - Code of Conduct paragraph 1b to be reworded ‘to maintain a high standard of personal hygiene’ with the rest of the paragraph referring to the dress code at Appendix I and move the Code of Conduct and Dress Code Appendices to run concurrently;

(x)        Page 57, paragraph 3 to read ‘Torbay Council Licenced....’ this to also apply to private hire vehicles;

(xi)       Page 63 - carrying of animals to be reworded to include ‘owned or cared for’;

(xii)      Page 65, Fire extinguishers to include ‘suitable and compliant’; and

(xiii)     Page 82, Appendix K include an introduction to make it clear that where the driver choses installs CCTV they shall follow these guidelines.