Licensing Committee - 24/01/2019

At a MEETING of the LICENSING COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 24th January, 2019.

Present:-

COUNCILLORS

Councillor Stewart HUNTER, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 10th January, 2019 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I DECLARATION OF INTEREST

No declarations of interest were made.

II TAXI LIAISON GROUP - ELIGIBILITY FOR MEMBERSHIP

Reference was made to Article II(c) of the minute of meeting of this Committee held on 2nd August, 2018, wherein the minimum criteria for membership of the Taxi Liaison Group was set at 60 members from Trade Associations and 39 members for Taxi and Private Hire Offices and officers were instructed to write to all offices and organisations seeking membership to request a list of their members in order that this could be established.

There was submitted Report No 56-2019 by the Head of Democratic and Legal Services on the review of membership of the Taxi Liaison Group and to seek the Committees approval of those entitled to membership as a result. It was reported that the undernoted offices and organisations had requested membership of the Taxi Liaison Group:-

No Office/Organisation

1 Dundee Private Hire (203020) Ltd

2 Dundee 505050 Ltd

3 Dundee Taxi Association

4 Handy Taxis

5 Tay Taxis

6 Dundee City Taxi Drivers' Association

7 Dundee Electric Taxi Association

8 Dundee City Taxis Ltd

9 Dundee Taxis Ltd

10 Stobswell Cabs Ltd

11 Unite the Union

12 GMB Union

13 Dundee Hackney Association

14 RMT Union

Following consideration of the report, the Committee agreed as follows:-

(i) that in the case of offices and organisations listed as Nos 1 to 7, having noted that they met the criteria for membership and had provided details of their members to enable this to be confirmed, the Committee agreed that one representative from each office and organisation be entitled to attend meetings of the Taxi Liaison Group;

(ii) that in the case of the office listed as No 8, having noted that they had also submitted a request for membership of the Group and that they met the criteria for membership and had provided details of their members to enable this to be confirmed, the Committee agreed that one representative from that office be entitled to attend meetings of the Taxi Liaison Group;

(iii) that in the case of the office listed as No 9, having heard a representative on behalf of the office and consideration of the advice of the Legal Officer, and having noted that the office did not meet the requirements for membership, the Committee agreed that they not be entitled to attend meetings of the Taxi Liaison Group;

(iv) that in the case of the office listed at No 10, having noted that a representative of this office was not present due to being in hospital, the Committee agreed that consideration of their entitlement to attend meetings of the Taxi Liaison Group be deferred to a future meeting of the Licensing Committee;

(v) that in the case of the organisation listed at No 11, having noted that they had not provided the requested information to confirm whether or not they met with the requirements for membership and having heard a representative on behalf of the organisation and consideration of the advice of the Legal Officer and a letter of support submitted by the representative of the organisation, the Committee agreed to delegate to the Head of Democratic and Legal Services, in consultation with the Convener, to grant the application once the details of their membership was confirmed by the Licensing Office;

(vi) that in the case of the organisation listed at No 12, having noted that they had not provided the requested information to confirm whether or not they met the requirements for membership and noting that a representative was not present, the Committee agreed that consideration of their entitlement to attend meetings of the Taxi Liaison Group be deferred to a future meeting of the Licensing Committee;

(vii) that in the case of the organisation listed at No 13, having noted that the organisation had not provided the requested information to confirm whether or not they met the requirements for membership and that the representative was not present, the Committee agreed that their request be considered in their absence and thereafter agreed that they not be entitled to attend meetings of the Taxi Liaison Group;

(viii) that in the case of the organisation listed at No 14, having noted that the organisation had not provided the requested information to confirm whether or not they met the requirements for membership and having heard a representative of the organisation and consideration of the advice of the Legal Officer, the Committee agreed that delegated authority be given to the Head of Democratic and Legal Services to consider their request for membership, in consultation with the Convener, once the organisation had provided evidence of the number of its members to the satisfaction of the Licensing Office; and

(ix) that a further review be undertaken in relation to the membership of the Taxi Liaison Group in 12 months time to enable the operation of the Group to be assessed and that a report be submitted to a meeting of the Licensing Committee for consideration.

Stewart HUNTER, Convener.