Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

(or at the rise of the Licensing Committee), Licensing and Appeals Committee - Monday, 8th March, 2021 10.10 am

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Contact: Ian Hinton-Smith 

Items
No. Item

1.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 211 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 30 November 2020.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 30 November 2020 were submitted for approval.

 

Decision

 

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 30 November 2020.

 

2.

Review of Temporary Amendments to Vehicle Age and Testing Policies pdf icon PDF 442 KB

The report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing is encosed.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing regarding relevant information, considerations and risks for the Committee further to its request to review the temporary amendments to the Vehicle Testing and Age policies, it made at its November 2020 meeting.

 

The recommendations set out in the report for the Committee to consider were:

 

1.                   To allow the continued temporary extension of the age limit (as set by the Committee in November 2020) of both HCVs and PHVs until the conclusion of the Clean Air and MLS work, when both policies will be fully revised in any event.

2.                   To revert vehicle testing requirements to normal policy requirements.

3.                   For the changes to take effect from 1 April 2021.

 

The Licensing Unit Manager presented information from the report outlining how the impacts of Coronavirus regulations has had a knock on effect for both the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire trade, decreasing business across both functions as well as information on mileage and vehicle testing and funding grants that would cover the costs of routine tests for all licensed vehicles in Manchester for the next 12 months.

 

The Committee were informed that the biggest risk would be continuing the reduced frequency of vehicle testing as funding to support such a measure has not been identified and that, the longer the testing frequency is relaxed, the bigger the potential for public safety to be put at risk due to issues relating to the mechanical function of the vehicle not being picked up or addressed.

 

A Committee member suggested an amendment to recommendation 1 in the report in that the continued temporary extension of the age limit of both HCVs and PHVs should be for a maximum period of 12 months, at which point this policy would be brought before the Committee again for future consideration. This amendment was agreed by the Committee.

 

Decision

 

  1. To allow the continued temporary extension of the age limit (as set by the

Committee in November 2020) of both HCVs and PHVs for a period of 12 months (to take effect from 1 April 2021).

 

  1. To revert vehicle testing requirements to normal policy requirements (to take effect from 1 April 2021).