Venue: Council Chamber - Town Hall - Maidenhead
Contact: Shilpa Manek 01628 796310
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bowden, Brar and Hill. Councillors Stimson, Bond and Taylor were substituting. |
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST PDF 217 KB To receive any declarations of interest. Minutes: No declarations of interest were received. |
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To confirm the Part I Minutes of the meeting held on 8 October 2019. Minutes: RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: The minutes of the last Licensing Panel were agreed to be a true and accurate record of the meeting. |
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MINUTES OF THE LICENSING AND PUBLIC SPACE PROTECTION ORDER SUB COMMITTEE PDF 186 KB To agree the minutes of the sub-committee held on 1 October 2019, 19 November 2019 and 28 November 2019. Minutes: RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: The minutes of the Licensing and Public Space Protection Order Sub Committees were agreed to be a true and accurate record of the meeting.
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To consider the report. Minutes: Greg Nelson, Trading Standards & Licensing Manager, introduced the report. The Panel were being asked to make a decision on each of the options for change set out in the report in Tables 3 to 8.
The Chairman invited Mr Munir and Mr Yasin to address the Panel:
Mr Mohammad Munir had been a hackney carriage driver for twelve years. Mr Munir informed the Panel that the hackney carriage drivers needed a pay rise, they were doing more hours and the tariffs did not reflect the hours. The vehicles were more expensive to run, the fuel prices had increased and the fuel consumption was more. Mr Munir suggested increasing the £2.80 tariff to have a minimum payment of £5.00.
Mr Yasin addressed the Panel. Mr Yasin had been a HC driver for over twenty years and was of the thought that by putting up the fares, customers would go elsewhere, to private hire firms or Uber. Mr Yasin suggested just increasing the additional passenger fare from 20p to 40p per passenger.
Councillor Davey clarified with the Licensing Officer that legally, the meter should be put on when carrying out journeys within the borough. If the journey was going out of the borough then a fare could be agreed before the journey or the meter could be used. This was confirmed by the Licensing Officer.
Councillor Baldwin asked about the capping of HC vehicles. Greg Nelson informed the Panel that the Licensing Panel decided to remove the cap in 2012, not under any new legislation. Greg Nelson was aware that there was not enough ranking space at popular sites. At busy times, more vehicles ranked at the hotspots such as stations.
The Panel agreed that whatever decision was taken had to be fair for the residents and the HC drivers. The Panel also agreed, by looking at the fare figures in the report, that RBWM were at the lower end of the scale compared to neighbouring boroughs. Other points considered by the Panel included larger vehicles could be used for wheelchairs, that there were no minimum or maximum number of hours that drivers could work and the increased fuel prices.
Members were firstly being asked:
Members are asked to consider the options set out in Table 3, relating to the RBWM Hackney Carriage Tariff:
Councillor Davey proposed that the current RBWM Hackney Carriage tariff be increased. This was seconded by Councillor Bond.
A named vote was carried out.
RESOLVED: The current RBWM Hackney Carriage Tariff be Increase.
The Chairman then asked the Panel to consider how much the tariff should be increased by, Table 3.
After a short discussion, Councillor Taylor proposed that a 10% increase would encourage passengers to share taxis, taking the climate emergency into consideration. This was seconded by Councillor Davey.
A named vote was carried out.
RESOLVED: That the current RBWM Hackney Carriage Tariff be increased by 10%.
The Chairman then asked the Panel to consider the charges relating to carrying larger number of passengers, Table 4.
Councillor ... view the full minutes text for item 84.
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DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS The date of the next meeting is Tuesday 21 April 2020. Minutes: Members noted the date of the next meeting of the Licensing Panel. |