Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 20 June 2012.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2012 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any Declarations of Interest from Members.

There were no declarations of interest received.

Purpose: To advise Members of a request from the trade to replace the current roof signs with a new design.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4) concerning a request from the trade to replace the current taxi roof signs with a new design.

It was noted that the current signs had been prescribed since January 2001. Feedback from the trade was that the current roof signs were starting to look tatty, but more importantly, were not as aerodynamic as newer designs. The request from the trade was therefore as a result of the new signs being better in terms of fuel economy and CO2 emissions.

The recommendations of the report were for the Committee to approve the new roof sign. Julia O’Brien drew the Committee’s attention to the fact that in order to satisfy the Department of Transport’s (DfT) guidance, a letter inviting feedback on the proposed new design was sent to all licence holders on 16November. The consultation period would end on 28 December 2012. Since November there had been extensive discussions with taxi owners and with owners on the ranks; feedback had been positive and to date no objections had been received.

It was confirmed by Mr Lutter (Chair of the West Berkshire Hackney Carriage Association) that the signs were connected to the cars by magnets and there had been no instances of them falling off when vehicles were driven at speed. It was also confirmed that the signs were illuminated and that the red lights to the rear of the signs would not compromise the green West Berkshire livery.

Councillor Lock queried whether there would be any economies of scale should the signs to be bought in bulk. Julia O’Brien commented that this had been raised at the last liaison meeting with the trade and that there was no reason why the taxi operators could not collectively purchase the signs should they wish to do so.

(In accordance with paragraph 7.12.14 of the Council’s Constitution, the Chairman proposed suspension of standing orders to allow members of the trade to participate in the discussion and respond to questions committee members might have. This was seconded by Councillor Tony Linden and the Committee voted in favour of this proposal).

In response to a query made by Councillor Billy Drummond relating to paragraph 1.6 of the report on the estimated reduction in CO₂ emissions this proposal would likely yield, Andrew Lutter (Chair of the West Berkshire Hackney Carriage Association) said that there was a standard formula for working out the litre of fuel converted to tonnes of fuel. He confirmed that the design of the new signage would save around ½ tonne of CO₂ after 20,000 miles. More simply, he added that the old signage was estimated to add around 6% to a taxi’s fuel bill; the new signage was thought to add only around 3%.

In response to a query made by Councillor Quentin Webb on the trade’s view on the phasing of the introduction of the new signs; Mr Lutter suggested that it made sense to place the requirement to upgrade  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Purpose: To update Members on the introduction of the provisions for the Late Night Levy (LNL) and the Early Morning Restriction Order (EMRO) as provided for in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, which amends the Licensing Act 2003.

Julia O’Brien introduced the report updating Members on the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. She noted that no action or decisions were required from the Committee at present, although a further report would be forthcoming in 2013 with some recommendations.

Julia O’Brien noted that the Act would give Members new powers to adopt Early Morning Restriction Orders (EMROs) and Late Night Levys. These new powers would allow the authority to work more closely with Thames Valley Police (TVP) in reducing crime and the fear of crime. It was noted that the Late Night Levy, if applied, would be applicable across the whole district. Of this revenue stream, 70% of the net amount would be allocated to TVP, with 30% retained by the Council.

It was noted by Councillor Jeff Beck that there were no conditions placed on how the police could utilise this money.

Councillor Beck, advised the Committee that this was a further update on the Act and that the Committee was being asked to note its content and offer any comment. He added that it was unfortunate that TVP had yet to indicate whether it supported this move, although he suggested that if they were not in support there was nothing stopping the Council acting anyway.

He further offered the view that the Act was flawed, in that there was no commitment to utilising the money locally, either on alleviating night-time anti-social behaviour, or in West Berkshire specifically. He added that he felt the use of EMROs was a useful tool for the authority in dealing with problem proprietors.

Councillor Beck explained that the Council was able to extract administration charges, so that the scheme would be cost-neutral in terms of administration. The remaining 30% could, therefore, usefully be spent on things such as street cleaning or taxi marshals.

It was observed by Councillor Beck that paragraph 5.9 of the report highlighted that the Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) could be excluded from a district-wide levy. However, it was concluded that in an area such as West Berkshire, such an exemption would make the scheme effectively redundant.

Sarah Clarke noted that the authority was still waiting on regulations to be released by Central Government. Once this had been published, a decision from the Committee would be sought, in principle, which would provide Officers with instruction to work up a potential local scheme in more detail. 

In noting that TVP had yet to offer a view on the proposals, it was suggested that a formal letter could be written to the new Police Crime Commissioner from the Chair of the Licensing Committee alerting him to the proposals; enquiring whether he had formed any views which he wished to discuss with the Committee.

ACTION: Sarah Clarke / Julia O’Brien to draft a letter to be sent to the TVP Police Crime Commissioner on behalf of the Chair of the Licensing Committee.

RESOLVED that  the report be noted.