Agenda and minutes

The Chair announced the retirement of John Grieve, Senior Governance Officer within Democratic Services.

In paying tribute, the Chair said John had worked for the Council for almost 45 years, many of those years servicing the Licensing Committee and it’s Sub Committees together with a variety of other Committees/ Boards and Panels, his knowledge and experience would be greatly missed.

Members and Officers Joined the Chair in expressing their thanks and best wishes to John in his future retirement.

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded)

(*In accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2, written notice of an appeal must be received by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting)

There were no appeals against the refusal of inspection of documents.

There were no items identified where it was considered necessary to exclude the press or public from the meeting due to the nature of the business to be considered.

There were no late items identified where it was considered necessary to exclude the press or public from the meeting due to the nature of the business to be considered.

To disclose or draw attention to any interests in accordance with Leeds City Council’s ‘Councillor Code of Conduct’.

There were no declarations of interests made at the meeting.

To receive apologies for absence (If any)

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors: H Bithell, A Hutchison and A Smart.

To consider and approve the minutes of the last meeting held on 14^th December 2021.

(Copy attached)

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 14^th December 2021, were accepted as a true and correct record.

To consider any Matters Arising from the minutes

There were no issues raised under Matters Arising.

To consider a report by the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory which presents the Licensing Committee Annual Report and seeks to provide information and statistics on the type and number of licensing applications processed by Entertainment Licensing and Taxi and Private Hire Licensing. It also provides information about the enforcement activity and liaison work undertaken by both Sections.

The Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory submitted a report which presented the Licensing Committee Annual Report. The report sought to provide information and statistics on the type and number of licensing applications processed by Entertainment Licensing and Taxi and Private Hire Licensing. It also provided information about the enforcement activity and liaison work undertaken by both Sections.

Addressing the Entertainment Licensing element of the report, the Principal Licensing Officer provided further details of the activities undertaken by the Section, in particular:

·  The impact on service as a result of the Coronavirus

·  Business Support

·  Office Arrangements

·  Licensing Processing

·  Temporary Event Notices

·  Complaint Handling

·  Covid Related Actions

The Taxi and Private Hire Manager then spoke on the activities of the Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Service which included:

·  The impact on service as a result of the Coronavirus

·  Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards

·  Vehicle Inspections

·  Enforcement and Compliance

·  Licensing Statistics

·  Decisions Taken

·  Refusal and Revocation Decisions

·  Suspensions

·  Complaints Received

Questions to Entertainment Licensing

Referring to Complaint Handling, Members asked if further details could be supplied in respect of “uncategorised Complaints” – Could a breakdown be provided of the type of complaint within this category.

The Principal Licensing Officer said that information was not readily available, but the requested information would be circulated to Members in due course.

Referring to “Licensing Processing” and the sentence “Sub-committee meetings resumed face-to-face in May 2021, to the disappointment of Members”. A number of Members considered this sentence to be inaccurate, suggesting some Members wished to return to more normal working.

Commenting on the number of Licensing Sub Committees, Members suggested there appeared to be more “additional” meetings required and obtaining enough Members was at times difficult. In responding, the Senior Governance Officer said that at the start of the Municipal Year around 30 Sub Committees are scheduled with approximately one third being cancelled due to lack of business or applications being withdrawn. Additional meetings are often required when an application needs to be considered within a certain timeframe. This year had seen an increase in the number of additional Licensing Sub Committee meetings. The comment by Members that obtaining sufficient Members to serve on these meetings had been a challenge, was accurate. 

Questions to Taxi and Private Hire Licensing

Referring to Enforcement and Compliance, Members queried; of the 82 vehicles issued with rectification notices, how many vehicle licenses were later suspended.

In responding the Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Manager said any defects identified were likely to be minor ones and the driver would be able to easily rectify the problem. It would be difficult to identify how many vehicles were later suspended without manually checking each record, but it was likely there would be very few suspensions. 

Members noted that 1172 roadside vehicle inspections had been undertaken, of which 34 were vehicles licensed by neighbouring authorities. Members queried why this figure was so low.

Members were informed that a significant number of the vehicle checks were by the police or other partners. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

To consider and approve the Licensing Committee Work Programme.

(Copy attached)

Members considered the ongoing Licensing Committee Work Programme for 2022/23.

RESOLVED – That the Licensing Committee Work Programme for 2022/23 be approved.

To note that the next meeting will take place on Friday, 27^th May 2022 at 10.00am in the Civic Hall, Leeds.

RESOLVED - To note that the next meeting will take place on Friday, 27^th May 2022 at 10.00am in the Civic Hall, Leeds.