Agenda and minutes

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary interest you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

No declarations of any interests were received.

The Chair outlined the hearing procedure that would be used to conduct the meeting.

To consider the exclusion of the press and public for the following items of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

By Virtue of Paragraph 2: Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual.

Condition:

Information is exempt to the extent that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Information is not exempt if it relates to proposed development for which the local planning authority may grant itself planning permission pursuant to Regulation 3 of the Town & Country Planning General Regulations 1992(a).

RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Report of the Director of Early Intervention and Support (enclosed)

The Licence Holder attended the meeting and provided correspondence from his solicitor who could not attend the meeting at short notice. His solicitor therefore requested that the Sub Committee be adjourned to the next available hearing so that full representations could be made on behalf of the Licence Holder, or alternatively that the sub-committee merely continue the existing suspension of the licences and not revoke them.

Following discussion Members agreed to continue with the hearing with the Licence Holder present to make his representations to the sub-committee. Members noted that the Licence Holder was in attendance. The Licensing Officer also stated that Licence Holder’s Solicitor had originally said that they would be in attendance. The letter from Licence Holder’s Solicitor stated that the preferred solicitor was otherwise engaged which suggested that alternative representation could have been arranged. Members had to consider the cost to council tax payers of further adjourned hearings and determined that the hearing was not arranged for the convenience of advocates. Members were satisfied that it was fair to proceed.

The Director of Early Intervention and Support submitted a report informing the sub-committee of the immediate suspension of the Licence Holder from driving his Hackney Carriage Vehicle and the suspension of the Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence both under officer delegated powers. Members were asked to consider whether the Licence Holder was a fit and proper person to hold a Hackney Carriage Driver’s Licence and whether he should hold a Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence. The Council’s records indicate that the Licence Holder has held both his Hackney Carriage Driver Licence (HCD) and Hackney Carriage Vehicle (HCV) licence since August 2006.

Officers were contacted by Lancashire Constabulary on 13 January 2017 regarding matters of a serious nature relating to the Licence Holder who had been stopped in his Hackney Carriage Vehicle and was arrested on suspicion of being in possession of a controlled substance with intent to supply. The matters raised were of such a serious nature that officers in consultation with the Deputy Chief Executive/Director of Early Intervention and Support suspended, on 13 January 2017, the Licence Holder’s Hackney Carriage Driver licence under Section 61 (2B) (with immediate effect), and the Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence under both Section’s 60 (1)(c) and Section 68 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

The arrest followed an intelligence report regarding the Licence Holder received by Lancashire Constabulary in October 2016. In response to this report the Police stopped the Licence Holder’s Hackney Carriage Vehicle on 12 January 2017 with the intention of searching the vehicle for illegal drugs. The HCV was stopped on Bolton Street Chorley, where it was confirmed that quantities of different substances were recovered from beneath the driver’s seat together with equipment (scales) for the weighing of small quantities. The Licence Holder was also in possession of £580.00 in cash and other drug paraphernalia. The Licence Holder was arrested and taken to Skelmersdale Police Station where he was bailed until 3 March 2017. Lancashire Constabulary  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.LSC.98