Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to a report from the Principal Licensing Officer, which requested approval for revisions to existing standards in relation to vehicle front plates.

The Committee noted that Members were provided information which related to anti-social behaviour and trade requests to remove front plates at the Committee meeting in November 2022. At that time, Members were asked to consider a proposal to reduce the size of the front plates that were currently in use, in order to mitigate some of the anti-social behaviour shown towards licensed vehicles which were easily identifiable.

The Licensing Authority had been working with the trade on issues surrounding anti-social behaviour and associated vehicle attacks. The trade were asked to report matters to Greater Manchester Police and then to feed that information into the online reporting tool to better inform policy decisions going forward, particularly in respect of the request to remove front plates.

It was noted that there was insufficient data to warrant a request for the removal of front plates and was therefore suggested that a smaller front plate be approved for use. A summery of anti-social behaviour reports submitted since the facility was put in place in March 2022 was included at point 2.4 of the report. The proposed templates for the revised front plates for both private hire and hackney carriage vehicles were attached at Appendix 10.1 to the report.

Members had previously raised concerns over the impact of reducing the size of the plates on visually impaired vehicle users. As a result of those concerns, an Initial Assessment was completed to ascertain whether an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) was required, with the assistance of the Corporate Policy Lead Officer which was attached at Appendix 10.2 of the report. The outcome of the assessment was that an EIA was not required as the proposal was unlikely to disproportionately affect any groups. In addition, the requirements would still meet the GM Minimum Licensing Standards which already had a GM wide Equality Impact Assessment in place.

RESOLVED that:

1.    The report be noted.

2.    The proposed templates for the revised front plates for both private hire and hackney carriage vehicles attached at Appendix 10.1 of the report be approved.