Minutes
Argyll and Bute Council · 19 April 2023
Back to Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee — 19 April 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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MINUTES of MEETING of PLANNING, PROTECTIVE SERVICES AND LICENSING COMMITTEE held BY MICROSOFT TEAMS on WEDNESDAY, 22 MARCH 2023 Present: Councillor Kieron Green (Chair) Councillor John Armour Councillor Jan Brown Councillor Daniel Hampsey Councillor Graham Hardie Councillor Fiona Howard Councillor Andrew Kain Councillor Liz McCabe Councillor Luna Martin Councillor Peter Wallace Attending: Stuart McLean, Committee Manager Fiona Macdonald, Solicitor Sergeant David Holmes, Police Scotland 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Audrey Forrest, Amanda Hampsey, Willie Hume, Mark Irvine and Paul Kennedy. 2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest. The Committee resolved in terms of Section 50(A)(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to exclude the press and public for the following item of business on the grounds that it was likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 3 and 14 respectively of Part 1 of Schedule 7A to the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. 3. CIVIC GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 1982: REQUEST FOR SUSPENSION OF TAXI DRIVER LICENCE (NUMBER 6556) (A SIMPSON, DUNOON) The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. In line with recent legislation for Civic Government Hearings, the parties (and any representatives) were given the options for participating in the meeting today. The options available were by video call, by audio call or by written submission. For this hearing Police Scotland opted to proceed by way of audio call and Sergeant Holmes joined the meeting by telephone. The Licence Holder opted to proceed by way of a written submission and a copy of this was circulated to the Committee in advance of the hearing. The Chair outlined the procedure that would be followed and invited Police Scotland to speak in support of the Chief Constable’s complaint. POLICE SCOTLAND Sergeant Holmes read out the contents of a letter from the Chief Constable dated 22 February 2023 which requested the immediate suspension of the licence and outlined the reasons for this.
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LICENCE HOLDER In the absence of the Licence Holder, the Committee Manager read out an email from Mr Simpson dated 22 March 2023. MEMBERS’ QUESTIONS The Members were given the opportunity to ask questions. SUMMING UP Police Scotland Sergeant Holmes advised that he had nothing further to add and confirmed that he had received a fair hearing. DEBATE The Members of the Committee debated the request to suspend the Taxi Driver Licence. DECISION The Committee unanimously agreed to suspend Mr Simpson’s Taxi Driver Licence (Number 6556) with immediate effect for the unexpired portion of the Licence as they considered that Mr Simpson was no longer a fit and proper person to be the holder of the Licence. (Reference: Report by Head of Legal and Regulatory Support and written submission from Licence Holder dated 22 March 2022, submitted)