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.

There were no declarations of interests received.

The Chair outlined the hearing procedures 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 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

By Virtue of Paragraph 1: Information relating to any 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 item of business on the grounds that it involved 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 Customer and Digital.

The Sub-Committee RESOLVED to defer this item to allow a late submission of evidence to be investigated.

Report of the Director of Customer and Digital.

The Director of Customer and Digital submitted a report for the General Licensing Sub-Committee to determine whether the applicant was a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

The applicant, his representative, and an observer were present at the Sub-Committee.

The Enforcement Team Leader (Licensing) informed the Sub-Committee that the applicant had failed to declare he had a licence revoked and a further application for a licence refused by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council (BwDBC) when applying for a Hackney Carriage Driver’s Licence and Private Hire Driver’s Licence at Chorley Council.

On 15 May 2019, the applicant made an application to Chorley Borough Council for a Private Hire Driver’s Licence and on 2 October 2019 the applicant made a further application for both a Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Driver’s Licence. Members noted that, on both applications, in response to the question ‘Have you ever had a licence for a Hackney Carriage/ Private Hire Driver, proprietor licence or an operator licence refused suspended or revoked?’ the applicant had answered ‘No’.

Although the applicant had failed the Council’s Knowledge Test for the first application, Members were advised the applicant was successful in passing this test on his second application. The Enforcement Team Leader (Licensing) advised that during this test the applicant had mentioned in passing that he had previously been licensed by BwDBC.

Following enquiries with BwDBC, it was established that on 24 July 2018 the applicant’s Private Hire Driver’s Licence was revoked with immediate effect and that the applicant’s application for a Private Hire Driver’s licence to BwDBC was refused on 13 September 2019. Members noted that the applicant had failed to declare both the revocation and the refusal on his application to Chorley Council. On 24 October 2019, the applicant was interviewed under caution at Chorley Council Offices. During the interview, the applicant admitted that he had made a false statement on his application forms but denied that it was intentional and stated that he had misunderstood the question and that other Council’s had different policies as to what had to be disclosed.

The Enforcement Team Leader (Licensing) informed the Sub-Committee of the matters which resulted in the applicant’s revocation and refusal, which were serious.

A matter was reported at the victim’s school around 21 March 2018. The Police attended and an account was obtained where offences amounting to sexual touching and sexual touching by penetration were disclosed with the offender identified as the victim’s biological father, the applicant. The victim’s sister also provided some corroboration of the facts. the applicant was interviewed by Police on 28 March 2018 and denied the allegations.

The Police attended the victim’s school on 2 May 2018 where she made a statement to say the allegations were fabricated. The Police rejected this and firmly suspected the family had placed pressure on her to withdraw her evidence. The victim’s sister also withdrew her evidence. As a result of this decision to withdraw evidence, Child Protection Services were forced to take No Further Action  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.37