Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting and details of substitutions and for whom they are attending. to the Committee membership.

Apologies were received from Councillor V Lees-Hamilton, Councillor P Davies and Councillor A Arshad.

Councillor J Lawson attended as sub on behalf of Councillor A Arshad.

Apologies were received from Councillor V Lees-Hamilton, Councillor P Davies and Councillor A Arshad.

Councillor J Lawson attended as sub on behalf of Councillor A Arshad.

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on the 18^th  December 2024.

RESOLVED -

That the meeting held on 18^th December 2024 be approved as a correct record.

RESOLVED -

That the meeting held on 18^th December 2024 be approved as a correct record.

Members will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have any disclosable pecuniary interests or any other interests, which may prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items.

No interests were declared.

No interests were declared.

Most agenda items take place in public. This only changes where there is a need to consider exempt information, as contained at Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. You will be informed at this point which items are to be recommended for exclusion and to be resolved by the Board.

All items were considered in public session.

All items were considered in public session.

The Committee will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation in writing, at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

No deputations or petitions were received.

No deputations or petitions were received.

To receive any public questions.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the period for the asking and answering of public questions shall not exceed 15 minutes.

Any questions must be submitted in writing at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting.

No public questions were asked.

No public questions were asked.

The purpose of this report is to inform members of the results of the consultation on the Council’s draft Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Licensing Principles and for members to make a recommendation to Council for its adoption.

Contact: Fiona Goldsmith, Public Protection Group Leader, Licensing – 01484 221000

RESOLVED -

That the proposed draft of the Council’s Gambling Act 2025, Statement of Licensing Principles 2025-2028, be formally submitted to Council on 16^th July 2025.

The Committee received a report highlighting the results of the consultation on the Council’s draft Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Licensing Principles.

Fiona Goldsmith, Public Protection Group Leader advised the Committee that it was a statutory requirement to review and publish a Statement of Licensing Principles every three years.

The Licensing Service had previously undertaken a full review of the gambling policy and implemented considerable changes. There had been no further guidance from the Gambling Commission to Local Authorities. The Licensing Service had consulted with the Gambling Commission and only made local changes to the policy. The Committee was advised that in accordance with the statutory requirement of the Gambling Act a two-week formal statutory consultation had taken place in May 2025 and no responses were received regarding the consultation.

RESOLVED -

That the proposed draft of the Council’s Gambling Act 2025, Statement of Licensing Principles 2025-2028, be formally submitted to Council on 16^th July 2025 for adoption.

This is a follow up report following the decision made by members of the Licensing and Safety Committee meeting on Wednesday 14^th February 2024.

Contact: Fiona Goldsmith, Public Protection Group Leader, Licensing – 01484 221000

RESOLVED -

That the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Specification Policy be adopted.

The Committee received a report regarding the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Specification Policy.

Fiona Goldsmith, Public Protection Team Leader, advised the Committee that in February 2024, there had been a full revision of the Kirklees Council Vehicle Specification Policy. Members of the Committee had previously asked officers to complete additional work in relation to Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and as part of the review the Licensing Service also looked at Multiple-Purpose Vehicles (MPVs).

Ms Goldsmith, referred to appendix one of the policy and advised the Committee that the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Dimensions had been removed from the policy. This was removed due to how vehicles were measured which had been recorded in inches since 2008 and it did not reflect vehicles today. A vehicle would now be licensed based on how many seats the vehicle logbook stipulated. The Licensing Service now accepted SUVs due to a large volume of vehicles being recorded as small SUV’s, which had previously restricted such vehicles being licensed. Ms Goldsmith advised the Committee that the situation would be monitored in terms of applications received and the vehicle sizes.

A questioned was asked whether there have ever been any stipulations in the policy regarding accessibility in private hire vehicles for people who did not have a physical disability. In response, Ms Goldsmith advised that the Best Practice Guidance for Licensing Authorities in England refers to accessibility and the Licensing Service will shortly be reviewing the policy to ensure it meets the requirements around accessibility. The Committee was further advised that when vehicles were being booked, the operator would consider the type of vehicle required to ensure it would be suitable for the needs of the travelling customer.

RESOLVED -

That the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Specification Policy be adopted.

The purpose of the report is to inform members of the activities undertaken to discharge the Council’s licensing functions from 1^st April 2024 to 31^st March 2025.

Contact: Fiona Goldsmith, Public Protection Group Leader, Licensing – 01484 221000

RESOLVED -

That the Licensing Service Update Report be noted.

The Committee received a report which provided anupdate on the activities undertaken to discharge the Council’s Licensing functions between 1^st April 2024  and 31^st March 2025.

In summary, the Committee was advised that the current number of hackney carriage and private hire licences in force as of the 2^nd May 2025 were 6086. Prior to the pandemic the last update report to the Committee was in October 2018, which stated that the number of hackney carriage/private hire drivers licensed were 2,950. The next update report to the Committee was in December 2020 and the figure had dropped to 2,896. As of 2^nd May 2025, the figure had increased to 3351 and the Council had seen a high demand for licenses within the service.

Ms Goldsmith highlighted vehicle testing and referred to tables contained in the report which provided the number of vehicle compliance tests taken at the Council’s two testing stations between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025. Further details were highlighted in the report regarding the reasons for vehicle test failures and the numbers of vehicles that had failed in each category. A question was asked by the Committee regarding the high percentage failure rates of vehicles and the retest process. Ms Goldsmith advised the Committee that the Council’s compliance test was similar to an MOT test. Vehicles had to meet the MOT standard as well as additional checks which did not fall within the remit of a MOT. The compliance test failed vehicles on either major or minor matters. If a vehicle failed on a minor fault, a certain amount of time would be given for the vehicle to be repaired and be retested at a garage with no additional charge. If a vehicle failed on a major fault, then the garage could suspend the vehicle licence and this would trigger a full retest and payment fee.

A question was asked by the Committee if there were any obligations on drivers and taxi companies to undertake their own vehicle tests to ensure vehicles met the required standard. Ms Goldsmith advised that currently there was no statutory requirement in place, and it was just one annual vehicle test which had been previously decided by the Committee in 2014. Members were advised that drivers were expected to check their vehicles and keep an accurate record. The Council’s enforcement team were proactive in checking vehicles on the road and if vehicles were identified as not up to standard an additional test could be requested, or a Prohibition Order could be served by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.

In August 2021, The Licensing Service introduced its Service Standards, and table in the report detailed how the service had performed against the standards between 1^st April 2024 and 31^st March 2025. Ms Goldsmith reported that the service had streamlined its processes and were now managing applications within the service standards. The report also provided a full breakdown of the type of offence/issues and decision/reasons.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.