Agenda item

Consideration was given to the Licensing Annual report which informed Members of the activities undertaken to discharge the Council’s Licensing function during the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.

Members were informed that There were two strategic objectives that related to Licensing:

To work with businesses to ensure they were licensed and compliant. This covered:

·         Proactively licensing premises and individuals engaged in alcohol supply, entertainment and late-night refreshment.

·         Participation in Pubwatch schemes, partnership projects and joint intelligence led inspections to ensure licence conditions were upheld.

·         Promotion of the four licensing objectives and three gambling objectives.

The second related to ensuring safe passenger journeys, in safe licensed vehicles with safe licensed drivers. This covered:

·         Carrying out inspections of licensed vehicles.

·         Assessing new applicants for licences to ensure they were fit and proper.

·         Safeguarding passengers by responding to complaints and investigating alleged offences and breaches of licence conditions.

The Licensing Act 2003 was governed by four licensing objectives:

·         Prevention of crime and disorder

·         Prevention of public nuisance

·         Public Safety

·         Protection of Children from Harm

Members were informed about the number of licensed premises under the Act, the number of applications considered by the Licensing Premises Panel and the number of complaints related to licensed premises. Members were also informed about the number of permissions under the Gambling Act 2005.

Members were informed that officers continued to work with the private hire and hackney trade to ensure effective communication and consultation took place. The Committee were provided with an update on the details of applicants and drivers brought before the Licensing Drivers Panel over the last twelve months. A rise in the number of new driver applications was highlighted and as a result, the Licensing Committee agreed to increase the frequency of these meetings to twice per month.

Members were provided with the breakdown of licences in force and the vehicle testing data. The Licensing Team also administered and enforced a wide range of other license, registrations and permits and the numbers of each were given.

Members were informed of future challenges and changes with regular changes to legislation and guidance affecting licensing together with consultations. There remained significant national uncertainty around the future of taxi and private hire licensing with the Department for Transport (DfT) continuing to analyse feedback on licensing reform and signalling further consultation on national standards and enforcement. Close work had been done with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) to assist in the delivery of the Hackney Support Fund, an £8m fund allocated to the upgrade of hackney carriages in Greater Manchester to emission compliant vehicles. Work was also being done with TFGM developing the Private Hire Funding announced by the GM Mayor which would be due to open for applications towards the end of 2026.

Members were also informed of current projects which were underway or due to start in the coming months which included:

·         Review of the Statement of Licensing Policy under the Licensing Act 2003. This was reviewed every 5 years.

·         Final procurement and implementation of a new Licensing software solution. This would improve operational efficiency, speed up processing functional and service user experiences.

·         Potential procurement of a new supplier for taxi consumables. This would include the ‘direct fulfilment’ of licences for vehicles and drivers. This project was still in the early stages. Further updates and specific details will be shared in the coming months.

RESOLVED that:

1.    The report be noted.

2.    The implications of the report be considered in future licensing decisions.