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There is no summary of this meeting yet. One is written once the council publishes the minutes. The agenda and papers are below.
1.1 The Chair welcomed Members and Officers to the meeting of the General Licensing Committee. 1.2 Apologies were received from Councillor Cowles.
2.1 No interests were declared.
3.1 Members of the Committee approved the minutes date 11th March 2025
4.1 The Committee noted the previous licensing hearings minutes.
The Licensing Committee: I. Noted and commented on the contents of this report, and II. Noted the activity report for October 2024 – March 2025
6.1 The Senior Licensing Officer presented the report, providing Members with an update of the changes to the Institute of Licensing’s “Guidance on determining the suitability of applicants and licensees in the hackney carriage and private hire trades” and the implications for the Council’s Policy on the Administration and Regulation of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licences. 6.2 It was emphasised that the most significant change was the possibility for a driver licence to accrue 12 penalty points prior to being refused. This meant that drivers could possibly committee another two minor motoring offences within a three year period. 6.3 Following questions from the Committee, the Senior Licensing Officer confirmed the following points: • There had been no explanation or background papers from Welsh Government surrounding these suggested changes. • The decision that was made today would only for the suggested changes to the policy to go to consultation. • The period of consultation had not yet been decided but it was thought this report would be brought back to Committee at the latter end of 2025. • Any comments received as a result of consultation would vastly influence the decision made, which was not necessarily for these changes to be reflected within Torfaen County Borough Council’s policy. • Any suggestions regarding engaging the public on this consultation would be welcomed. • The change still required a review of a drivers license after they had accrued 7 penalty points and there would be consideration of what action was to be undertaken at this point. 6.4 That the General Licensing Committee agreed for consultation to be carried on the adoption of the revised Institute of Licensing’s Guidance on determining the suitability of applicants and licensees in the hackney carriage and private hire industry, including the use of the NR3S register, in place of the original guidance.
7.1 The Senior Licensing Officer presented the report to seek the views of the General Licensing Committee on the current age limits and signage requirements for the hackney carriages and private hire vehicles that are licensed by Torfaen County Borough Council. 7.2 Requests had been received from licence holders for the vehicle age limits and the vehicle signage requirements to be reviewed which could be seen within the appendices of the reports. 7.3 Following questions from the Committee, the Senior Licensing Officer and Principal Solicitor confirmed the following: • It was currently Council policy that private hire drivers were required to have signage showing which company they were working for. Whilst this was an extra safeguard for any customers, drivers had argued this was restricting the amount of work private hire drivers were able to undertake. • The decision to not review the age of vehicles in 2021 was due to not wishing to lower standards at this time. 7.4 The Committee suggested that the current signage policy was protecting residents, but it was acknowledged that consultation to find out the public view would be helpful. It was also acknowledged by Committee that age of vehicles did need to be reviewed due to rising costs of vehicles. 7.5 The General Licensing Committee i. agreed to consider a report at a future meeting with proposed changes to the age limits for licensed vehicles. ii. agreed to consider a report at a future meeting with proposed changes to the vehicle identification requirements for private hire vehicles.
7.1 The date of the next meeting was confirmed to take place on 25th September 2025.
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