Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare any personal, prejudicial or pecuniary interests they may have in the business on the agenda. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 19^th Novermber 2012.

RESOLVED:                That the minutes of the last meeting held on 19^th November 2012 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record, subject to the following amendment:

                                      That the Chairs thanks to Members participating in Licensing Hearings be moved to the end of the minutes.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so.  The deadline for registering is 5:00 pm on Friday 8^th February 2013.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Councils Public Participation Scheme.

There was one registered speaker for agenda item 4, Mr. Crake. He spoke to advise that he had put in a request to the Taxi Licensing department for the Council to allow its taxis to use digital advertising. He stated that several Local Authorities had now approved use of digital advertising and he circulated details the ‘Cabcast’ system which is used to facilitate advertising inside licensed vehicles by way of an adjustable universal fitting which will work in all vehicles.

This report asks Members to consider revising the conditions with regards to advertising on and in hackney carriage and private hire vehicles in relation to digital media.

Members considered a report which asked them to consider revising the taxi licensing conditions in regard to advertising on and in hackney carriage and private hire vehicles.

The Licensing Manager advised that she had received a request for digital media to be used in taxis but no conditions were currently in place to deal with this. The councils existing conditions relating to taxi advertising were attached at annex 1 of the report, and Members attention was drawn to the suggested conditions attached at annex 2 relating to digital media technology.

Members queried a number of points with the registered speaker relating to the operation of the Cabcast system that he had spoke about. In particular they sought assurances that vehicle and road safety would not compromised by the installation of the equipment and that inappropriate advertising would not be shown via the system.

A Member raised concerns relating to the development of technology and suggested that it would be useful to require a condition which asks for all systems to be approved by the Council prior to installation into a vehicle.

Members also asked that the driver be able to have the master control and the ability to switch off any advertising.

RESOLVED:      (i)       That Option 1 be approved and that digital advertising should be available for York’s licensed vehicles subject to the conditions already in place as outlined at Annex 1 and the additional conditions in Annex 2.

(ii)      That the additional safeguards suggested by Members as outlined above be added to the  conditions relating to digital media.¹

REASON:                     To enable York’s Licensed Vehicles to use technology that is available.

This report asks Members to consider revising the conditions with regards to advertising on and in hackney carriage and private hire vehicles, in relation to advertising stickers.

Members considered a report which asked them to consider revising the conditions relating to advertising on and in hackney carriage and private hire vehicles, specifically in relation to rear window stickers.

The Licensing Manager outlined the report and advised that currently taxis are allowed advertising on the bodywork of the vehicle, internally and in the rear window.

The wording of the condition relating specifically to rear window stickers is vague and officers have been using their discretion as to whether the size of an advertising sticker is appropriate so as not to obscure the driver’s visibility out of the rear window and responsible authorities ability to see into the vehicle.

Officers asked that either any reference to rear stickers be removed from the conditions and replaced with a condition to state that no advertising is permitted or the current condition be reworded to clearly indicate the size of the advertising sticker and the location on the window where it can be displayed.

Following discussion, Members agreed that it was not unreasonable for licensed vehicles to have a small sticker and agreed that the condition relating to windows stickers be reworded.

RESOLVED:                That Members approved Option 1 and instructed officers to reword the condition relating to advertising in the rear windows of licensed vehicles.²

REASON:                     To make the requirements for advertising in the rear window easier for both the trade and officers to understand/enforce and ensure consistency across the taxi fleet.