Cllr Mundy was elected Chair for the Council year 2023-24.

Cllr Clarkson was elected Vice-Chair for the Council year 2023-24.

None.

The Head of Law and Governance has submitted a report to establish four sub-committees for the 2023-24 Council Year to deal with casework flowing from the Committee’s own responsibilities.

Recommendations: That the General Purposes Licensing Committee resolves to:

1. Agree that the casework hearings fortaxi, private hire or other driver or vehicle licences, street trading licences and sex establishment licences should be determined by sub-committees on the basis of the Powers and Duties of GPL Sub-Committees atAppendix A.
2. Establish four politically-balanced sub-committees of three members, and agree the membership, each to undertake the casework of the General Purposes Licensing Committee as set out in Appendix A:

·       Sub-Committee A: GPL Chair, Labour Cllr A, Lib Dem Cllr A

·       Sub-Committee B: GPL Vice Chair, Labour Cllr B, Lib Dem Cllr B

·       Sub-Committee C: GPL Chair, Labour Cllr C, Lib Dem Cllr A

·       Sub- Committee D: GPL Vice Chair, Labour Cllr D, Lib Dem Cllr B

3. Agree that substitution is permitted on each of the four sub-committees but that substitutes must be from the General Purposes Licensing Committee and must maintain political proportionality.
4. Agree the meeting dates and time listed below.

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Law and Governance setting out the establishment of four sub-committees for the 2023-24 Council Year to deal with the casework flowing from the Committee’s own responsibilities.

The General Purposes Licensing Committees resolved to:

·         Agree that the casework hearings for taxi, private hire or other driver or vehicle licences, street trading licences and sex establishment licences should be determined by sub-committees on the basis of the Powers and Duties of GPL Sub-Committees at Appendix A.

·         Establish four politically-balanced sub-committees of three members, each to undertake the casework fo the General Purposes Licensing Committee as set out at Appendix A.

·         Agree the membership of the four sub-committees as:

o   Sub-Committee A:  Cllr Mundy, Cllr Lygo, Cllr Sandelson

o   Sub-Committee B:  Cllr Clarkson, Cllr Coyne, Cllr Miles

o   Sub-Committee C:  Cllr Mundy, Cllr Waite, Cllr Miles

o   Sub-Committee D:  Cllr Clarkson, Cllr Hunt, and Cllr Gant

·         Agree that substitution is permitted on each of the four sub-committees but that substitutes must be from the General Purposes Licensing Committee and must maintain political proportionality.

·         Agree the meeting dates and time for sub-committees as set out in the report.

Recommendation: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 06 February 2023 as a true and accurate record.

The Committee agreed to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 06 February 2023 as a true and accurate record.

The Committee is scheduled to meet at 6.00pm on the following dates:

·       25 September 2023

·       05 February 2024

The Committee noted the dates and times of future meetings.

Cllr Miles raised a question on bike taxis.

In response to questions, the Supervising Senior Licensing Officer explained that similar queries had been raised in the past but fell outside the remit of the Authority due to bicycles being unable to meet the criteria of a 'vehicle' under the licensing legislation, particularly in regard to safety requirements. He advised that licensing bicycles through the current regime would require substantial work and changes to the policy, however initial proposals that would explore how other authorities allowed similar schemes could be a considerable first steps.

The Committee requested that Licensing Officers explored ways that would enable the Authority to licence bicycles as a method of public transportation within the city to be brought before the Committee for discussions at a future meeting.