To authorise the Chair to sign the Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and General Purposes Committee held on 31 August 2022 as a correct record of the proceedings.

The Chair was authorised to sign the Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and General Purposes Committee held on 31 August 2022 as a correct record of the proceedings.

The Chair to ask if any Member present is substituting for another Member and, if so, to declare his/her name as substitute Member and the name of the absent Member.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Curtis and Hacking.

To receive any disclosure by Members of personal and disclosable pecuniary interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any interest and whether the Member regards the personal interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct.  Members are reminded of the need to repeat their declaration immediately prior to the commencement of the item in question.

There were no disclosures of interest made. 

Members received the report of the Chief Executive providing an update on surveillance activity over the previous year, in-line with the inspecting officer’s recommendations.

There had been no use of legally approved surveillance powers in 2022; the last time the Council had applied for and were granted surveillance powers by a Magistrate was in 2015.

The Council owned and operated CCTV equipment on its own property, for the detection of crime and to deter crime. The Council’s policy was detailed at Appendix 1 to the report.  CCTV on the streets of Rother was monitored by the police from a control room in Eastbourne.

Members noted that the surveillance activity met the key recommendations of the Surveillance Commissioner’s report.  The next inspection was anticipated in 2023.

RESOLVED: That the Council’s 2022 annual update report on covert surveillance and policy on CCTV installed on its premises be noted.

Members received and considered the report of the Head of Environmental Services, Licensing and Community Safety outlining the Council’s proposed licensing fees to be charged from April 2023.  The fees were set to recover the full administration costs of issuing licences and costs associated with ensuring compliance with conditions attached to licences, but not the costs associated with the enforcement of unlicensed premises and activities.

Appendix A to the report set out the discretionary fees proposed to be charged from April 2023, with changes highlighted in red. Where fees were proposed to increase, they were to be increased by 10%. The hiring of horse fees included the veterinary inspection costs, which increased each year and become increasingly difficult to employ. The fees set by the Licensing Act 2003 had not been increased, despite requests by the Local Government Association. Maximum fees under the Gambling Act 2005 were also set by statute. The Council charged the maximum amounts.

Members had the opportunity to ask questions and the following points were noted:

•     dog breeders’  inspections were dependent on the individual breeder’s risk rating, 1 to 5, i.e. a risk rating of 1 triggered an inspection each year and a risk rating of 5 every three years.  This was reflected in the fees; and

•     an applicant for a skin and body piercing licence who could provide evidence that they were registered with another authority would receive a 50% discount due to required standards having already been achieved.

RESOLVED: That the licensing fees and charges set out in Appendix A be approved and applied from 1 April 2023.

Members received the report of the Head of Environmental Services, Licensing and Community Safety which detailed how the Council set hackney carriage fares in the district by adopting a fare card. Fares had last been increased in May 2022 (by 10%) and before that in December 2016. A 10% increase in fares was advertised in December 2022 and representations were received. These maximum fares applied to hackney carriages only (which could operate from taxi ranks) not to private hire vehicles. The fares did not apply to journeys starting or ending outside the district.

The AA had reported that fuel prices had increased by 24% between October 2016 and 2021. The consumer price index (CPI) in October was 11.1% and in November 2022 was 10.7%. It was important that hackney carriage fares were increased periodically to attract new hackney carriage owners and drivers to work in Rother, as drivers needed to be able to earn a sufficient income.

To benefit the public and make the fare card easier to understand, the proposed fare table had been simplified and attached at Appendix A to the report.  The fare card showed the maximum fare that could be charged, but a driver could charge less.

There was a cost to hackney carriage owners in recalibrating their meters and a cost to the Council in administering this change; the exercise was not therefore to take place too frequently. When an increase was made it needed to be at least 5%, to justify the costs involved. 

Representations were received from licensed drivers only, representing 7% of drivers consulted. Four objected to the fare increase. Four supported the fare increase. Three supported the fare increase but not the simplified tariffs.  The Representations were attached at Appendix B to the report.

Members had the opportunity to ask questions and the following points were noted during discussions:

•     Members raised concerns that drivers could lose fares if an increase of 10% was applied in the current economic climate;

•     the Council set the maximum fare that could be charged, but drivers could charge a lesser fare if they so wished;

•     a meter could hold two tariffs, Rother fares and the driver’s own fares and either could be applied;

•     Members raised concerns that the simplified fare card may discourage drivers working during the early hours, but in practice the early hours fares were rarely implemented as private hire vehicles were used during those hours or the journey was outside the district; and

•     an increase to the day fares lessened the impact of reducing early hours fares overall.

RESOLVED: That the Hackney Carriage Fares at Appendix B be approved from April 2023.

Members received the report of the Head of Environmental Services, Licensing and Community Safety which detailed how the Council set fees for taxi licensing, which had to be reasonable with a view to recovering the cost of issue, administration and enforcement of conditions, but not raising revenue.

Operator and vehicle licence fees were last increased in 2011 and increases were proposed that considered the time required to process and enforce conditions attached to licences.  The budget for taxi licensing decreased following the creation of the shared service in 2013 and during the pandemic, income reduced. Officers had estimated the time involved in issuing and enforcing conditions for different licences, which were set out in Appendix A to the report.

Subsection 70(3) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, set out special requirements in relation to hackney carriage and private hire operator and vehicle licences. In these cases, a notice had to be published in a local newspaper stating the proposed fees and giving 28 days for objections to be received. If there were no objections, the increase may be implemented, but otherwise the matter must be reported back to the Committee for consideration of the objections.

If no objections received, the new fees, as detailed in Table C within the report would be implemented from 1 April 2023.

RESOLVED: That:

1)   the Council commence a consultation on increasing operator and vehicle licence fees and if there are no objections received, fees shown at Appendix C are increased from 1 April 2023; and

2)   driver licence fees at Appendix C are increased from 1 April 2023.