Agenda and draft minutes

No declarations of interest were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Mandy Shaw, Bridget Gould and Simon Tranter.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 January, 2020 were agreed as a true record.

The Chair welcomed Inspector Abbott to his first meeting of the Committee.

Inspector Abbott referred to some of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on policing activity and he explained there had been a lower than normal level of reported taxi-related crime figures for the April to June quarter in the Chesterfield and the Bolsover and North East Derbyshire Policing sections, totalling 15 reports, including 10 of making off without payment (with suspects identified in 8 cases) and one assault on a driver (for which a suspect had been identified).

He asked drivers to be wary of potential ‘trolley dash’ thefts and to notify the Police of any suspected cases.

Further to Minute No. 23, it was noted that there had been a minor amendment to the proposed loading bay on Knifesmithgate in response to the objections to the traffic regulation order and that the revised road layouts for Elder Way and Knifesmithgate would be implemented as part of the revised public realm works in that area.

The Committee considered the draft annual report of the Taxi Consultative Committee for 2019/20, which provided information on the meetings of the Committee held and issues considered during the year. The report also referred to the fact that not all the places for trade representatives had been taken up and that there had been limited attendance of trade representatives during the year.

It was agreed that, subject to amendments arising from Minute No. 32 below, the annual report be approved and submitted to a future meeting of the Council’s Appeals and Regulatory Committee.

Further to Minute No. 25, the meeting considered the future viability of the Committee given the recent poor attendance of trade representatives. It was felt that generally any issues were satisfactorily resolved by direct contact with the Licensing section and that there was no longer a need for formal consultative meetings. It was recognised that circulation of the quarterly taxi-related crime data to existing representatives would still be useful.

It was, therefore, agreed that the meetings of the Committee scheduled for October, 2020 and January, 2021 be suspended, with the option to arrange a meeting if an urgent need arose, and to then review in early 2021 whether there continued to be a role for the Committee or to recommend to Council that it be dissolved.

Trevor Durham reported that the Licensing section was continuing to operate during the Covid-19 pandemic with revised processes where required and that it was hoped to be able to process new applications again from later in July. Vehicle tests would be available again from the beginning of August, with standard MOTs from other MOT testing centres being accepted until October.

He reported that three drivers’ licences had been revoked during the previous three months, with one case proceeding to appeal.