Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brake, Filmer, Hamilton, Peake and Sands.

To approve the record of the meeting held on 20 February 2025.

The record of the meeting held on 20 February 2025 were agreed and signed by the Chairperson.

The Chairperson will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none.  

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct. Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 4.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

This report sets out the outcome of a review of the allocation of seats on the Licensing and Safey Committee’s sub-committees following a change of political balance on the Council in February 2025.

Decision:

The Committee approved the allocation of seats for the Licensing Sub-Committee as set out in Appendix A to the report.

The purpose of this report is to present the responses to the consultation and further engagement for the Taxi Tariff Review Policy.

Discussion:

The Licensing Manager explained the background to the item and that it had been deferred at the meeting on 20 February 2025 to allow further engagement to take place.

Following further engagement with Medway Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (MLTDA) the policy had been amended to include a process for emergency reviews and inclusion of the other elements of the tariff on a rotational basis.

The Committee agreed to invite Nigel Jackson to speak on behalf of MLTDA. Mr Jackson informed the Committee that the issue of bi-annual reviews had been addressed by the addition of the emergency review process. Mr Jackson explained that there was some concern about the requirement of the support of 50% of the entire trade to trigger an emergency review as it would be difficult to contact all drivers as some were not actively working or worked elsewhere.

The Committee discussed the minimum required number of drivers to trigger an emergency review and the intention of the policy and concluded that 50% of the entire trade was too high and needed to be amended.

The Committee agreed that the minimum number of drivers required to trigger an emergency review should be amended to 100 drivers and that the Committee should be able to review the requirements for emergency reviews if this proved to be problematic.

Decision:

a)    The Committee noted the responses received during the consultation, officer’s associated comments and the outcome of the requested further engagement.

b)    The Committee proposed that the minimum number of drivers to request an emergency review be amended from 50% of the entire trade to 100 drivers and that the Committee would have the opportunity to review the requirements for emergency reviews if they became problematic and officers agreed to amend the policy accordingly.

c)    The Committee recommended approval of the amended draft Taxi Tariff Review Policy to Business Support and Digital Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cabinet and Council.

d)    The Committee noted the proposed minor amendment to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy 2021-2026, to reflect the introduction of the Taxi Tariff Review Policy.

e)    The Committee recommended approval to amend the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy to Business Support and Digital Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cabinet and Council.