Issue - meetings

The Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Duncan Smith, will present the report.

RESOLVED

1.   The proposed draft policy presented to Cabinet for consideration at 11 December 2012 should not be adopted.

2.   The issue should be reconsidered when the outcome of the taxi and private hire licensing law reform review by the Law Commission is published.

The Leader indicated that Mr Meyer, of Rickshaw Revolution, had approached him before the meeting requesting that he ask a question at the meeting. The Leader said he had been minded to agree to this but as Mr Meyer was not present at the meeting for this agenda item that would not be possible.

The Leader invited Councillor Smith, as Chair of Overview and Scrutiny to address Cabinet. He outlined the contents of the report and highlighted that the call-in of the decision had focused on the decision-making process as opposed to taking a view on whether rickshaws should be licensed in Cheltenham. He made the following points :

• The failure of Cabinet to make their intent clear by taking a clear decision undermined their intent and created uncertainty as to the council’s position. Cabinet should agree a clear recommendation in favour or against changing the current policy and refer the matter to full Council.
• From the evidence gathered at the call-in if Cabinet were minded to defer the decision on the grounds of safety issues they need to support this with a clear and specific statement about exactly what these concerns relate to so that they can be addressed by potential applicants in any subsequent applications
• The Chief Executive should look at the process and consider where practice can be improved to ensure that members of the public are kept well informed and do not suffer unnecessary delays.
• There should be clarity of aims and desired outcomes for the applicant and this should be remedied by a clear decision being taken by Cabinet with referral to Council for approval.
• O&S were concerned that this report had not been brought to an earlier meeting of Cabinet given that the report had been finalised in early February

In response the Cabinet Member Housing and Safety observed that in his view the report did not reflect the O&S call in meeting. He explained that despite the criticism regarding the length of time taken and the manner in which the issue of licensing rickshaws had been dealt with, he was confident that it had been an open, honest and professional process. Officers had been diligent in their research in drawing up a draft policy. In terms of the safety issues there had been a number of cabinet reports and a public consultation but there were a variety of differing schemes, licensed and un-licensed. A major issue had been the complex nature of the statutory legislation which was effectively inadequate for the licensing of Hackney Carriage Rickshaws. He emphasised that rickshaws could operate in the town without a licence on a contract basis. He reaffirmed Cabinet’s commitment to supporting businesses and entrepreneurs within the boundaries of the legislation.

The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety reminded those present of the resolution made at the December 2012 Cabinet meeting which was to “defer a decision on the licensing of rickshaws in Cheltenham until the outcome of the taxi and private hire licensing law  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5