Licensing Committee - 27/06/2002

At a MEETING of the LICENSING COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 27th June 2002.

Present:-

COUNCILLORS

Councillor REGAN, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 20th June 2002 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I LOTTERIES AND AMUSEMENTS ACT 1976

APPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS FOR AMUSEMENTS WITH PRIZES

There was submitted the undernoted applications:-

In the case of applications nos 1 and 3, there being no objections, the Committee agreed that the applications be granted.

In the case of application no 2, the Committee agreed that this application be granted for cash machines only.

II CIVIC GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 1982

(a) HOUSES IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION - NEW APPLICATIONS

There being no objections the Committee agreed that the undernoted applications be granted:-

(b) HOUSES IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION - RENEWALS

The Committee noted that the undernoted applications had been withdrawn by the applicant:-

(c) LATE HOURS CATERING LICENCE - NEW APPLICATIONS

There being no objections the Committee agreed that the undernoted applications be granted:-

(d) METAL DEALERS - EXEMPTION WARRANTS - RENEWALS

There being no objections the Committee agreed that the undernoted applications be granted and that authority be delegated to the Clerk to decide on the merits of such applications in the future:-

(e) PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT LICENCE - NEW APPLICATIONS

There was submitted the undernoted applications:-

In the case of application no 1, there being no objections the Committee agreed that the application be granted.

In the case of application no 2, the Committee. after being informed that the applicant was not present, agreed that the application be refused.

(f) SECOND HAND DEALER'S LICENCE - NEW APPLICATIONS

There being no objections the Committee agreed that the undernoted applications be granted:-

(g) STREET TRADERS LICENCE - NEW APPLICATION

There was submitted the undernoted application:-

In the case of this application the Committee agreed that the application be granted and for the area of the whole of Dundee and that condition 9 of the standard conditions of street trader's licence be waived.

(h) WINDOW CLEANER'S LICENCE - NEW APPLICATION

There being no objections the Committee agreed that the undernoted application be granted:-

(i) TAXI DRIVER'S LICENCE - NEW APPLICATIONS

There was submitted the undernoted applications:-

In the case of applications nos 1, 2, 3 and 5 the Committee agreed that the applications be granted.

In the case of applications nos 6, 8 and 9 the Committee, after noting that the applicants had failed to pass the Street Knowledge Test within the prescribed time period, agreed that the applications be refused.

In the case of application nos 4 and 7 the Committee noted that these applications had been withdrawn by the applicant.

(j) TAXI LICENCES - NEW APPLICATIONS

There was submitted the undernoted applications:-

In the case of applications nos 1 to 3 the Committee agreed that the applications be granted.

In the case of application no 4 the Committee noted that this application had been referred back to Committee by the Sheriff for reconsideration and, after hearing the Legal Officer and an agent on behalf of the applicant, agreed that the application be granted.

III TAXI LICENCES - RENEWAL SCHEME

The Convener expressed concern about holders of Taxi Licenses losing their licence as a result of non-submission of their application for renewal within the time period allowed. The Committee agreed that a Renewal Scheme be reported to the next meeting of the Taxi Liaison Forum for consideration.

IV APPOINTMENT OF SUB-COMMITTEE - IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION HEARINGS

There was submitted Agenda Note AN137-2002 about requests from Tayside Police to hold immediate suspension hearings in terms of paragraph 12 of schedule 1 to the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 in cases where offences had been committed and where they felt that the licence holder constitutes a serious threat to public order or public safety.

The Committee noted that these hearings by their very nature were convened at short notice and that problems in securing a quorum invariably arose.

To obviate this problem the Committee agreed that consideration of such requests be delegated to a Sub-Committee comprising any three members drawn from the membership of the Licensing Committee with the quorum being three members. The Sub-Committee would be chaired by the Licensing Committee Convener or Depute Convener, failing whom, those present would elect a chair for that particular meeting only.

The Committee also agreed that the only power of the Sub-Committee would be to decide whether or not to suspend a licence and noted that in the event that a licence was suspended it would only be until the matter had been dealt with at a hearing under paragraph 11 of Schedule 1, which would be held within six weeks of the date of the initial suspension, and to which all members of the Committee would be invited to attend.

The Committee resolved, under Section 50(A)(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, that the public be excluded from the meeting for the undernoted item of business on the grounds that this would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 3, 6 and 9 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A to the above Act.

V CIVIC GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 1982

(k) TAXI DRIVER'S LICENCE - NEW APPLICATIONS

There was submitted an application by Ms E D for a Taxi Driver's Licence.

The Committee gave consideration to a representation which had been submitted by the Chief Constable relative to this application. Part of the representation referred to convictions which were spent in terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and, after hearing the Chief Constable's representative as to their age and nature, the Committee agreed that they may be considered since justice could not otherwise be done.

Thereafter, having heard from the applicant on her own behalf, the Committee agreed that consideration of this item be deferred to a future meeting to allow the applicant to secure legal representation.

GEORGE REGAN, Convener.