Item 3 - DRAFT Minute of Licensing Committee - 22 April 2026 v2
West Dunbartonshire Council · 3 June 2026
Back to Licensing Committee — 3 June 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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LICENSING COMMITTEE At a Meeting of the Licensing Committee held in the Council Chambers, Clydebank Town Hall, 5 Hall Street, Clydebank on Wednesday, 22 April 2026 at 2.05 p.m. Present: Councillors Ian Dickson, Gurpreet Singh Johal, John Millar, Lawrence O’Neill, Chris Pollock and Hazel Sorell. Attending: Christopher Anderson, Principal Solicitor; Robert Mackie, Senior Licensing Officer; Lawrence Knighton, Civic Licensing Standards Officer; Sergeant David Holmes, Police Scotland; Louise Allan, Licensing Assistant; and Lynn Straker, Committee Officer. Also Attending: Mr Allan Aire; Mr Stanley Lavelle, Mr Steven McGougan*; Mr Faisal Ahmmaad Puthiya Veetil; Mr Richard Mullan; Mr Furhat Ullah; Mr Robert Kelly; Ms Caitlin Rainey; and Mr Michael McDougall, Solicitor and Representative. Apologies: An apology for absence was intimated on behalf of Councillor Gordon Scanlan. Councillor Lawrence O’Neill in Chair DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST It was noted that there were no declarations of interest in the item of business on the agenda. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS The Minutes of the Meetings of the Licensing Committee held on 18 February 2026 were submitted and approved as a correct record. OPEN FORUM The Committee noted that no open forum questions had been submitted by members of the public. ITEM 3
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APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A TAXI/PRIVATE HIRE CAR DRIVER’S LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting the Committee to consider an application for grant of a Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver's Licence for Mr Allan Aire. Members first heard from Mr Anderson in explanation of the application and the reasons why the matter had been brought back before the Committee following the Sheriff’s decision to uphold the appeal submitted by Mr Aire having had the application refused on 16 April 2025. Members then heard from Sergeant Holmes in detail of the objection from Police Scotland. Members then heard from Mr Aire in support of the application. After discussion and having heard Mr Aire in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, Members agreed to grant the application. DECIDED:- Members agreed to grant the application. APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A TAXI/PRIVATE HIRE CAR DRIVER’S LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting the Committee to consider an application for grant of a Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver's Licence for Mr Stanley Lavelle. Members first heard from Mr Anderson in explanation of the application and then from Sergeant Holmes in detail of the objection from Police Scotland. Members then heard from Mr McDougall, Solicitor and Representative and Mr Lavelle in support of the application. After discussion and having heard Mr McDougall and Mr Lavelle in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, Members agreed to grant the application. DECIDED:- Members agreed to grant the application. *Note:- Mr Steven McGougan left the meeting during discussion of this item.
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APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A TAXI/PRIVATE HIRE CAR DRIVER’S LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting the Committee to consider an application for grant of a Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver's Licence for Mr Steven McGougan having received a representation from Police Scotland. Mr McGougan was not in attendance when his application was due to be determined as he had left earlier in the proceedings due to work commitments. Members agreed to continue consideration of the application to a future meeting of the Licensing Committee. DECIDED:- Members agreed to a continuation of the hearing to a future meeting of the Licensing Committee to allow Mr McGougan to attend. APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A SHORT TERM LET A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting the Committee to consider an application for grant of a Short Term Let Licence for G1, 335 Main Street, Alexandria G83 0BP. Members first heard from Mr Anderson in explanation of the application and then from Mr Veetil in support of the application and in response to objections received from members of the public. After discussion and having heard Mr Veetil in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, Councillor O’Neill, seconded by Councillor Singh Johal, moved a motion to grant the application, subject to Planning permission being received. Councillor Millar, seconded by Councillor Sorrell moved an amendment to refuse the application. On a roll call vote being taken, 3 Members voted for the amendment, namely Councillors Dickson, Millar and Sorrell, and 3 Members voted for the motion, namely Councillors O’Neill, Johal and Pollock. Councillor O’Neill, in the position of Chair of the Licensing Committee, exercised his power of holding the deciding vote in the event of an equality of votes. The motion was accordingly declared carried and the application was granted on the condition that the property could not be used as a Short Term Let until Planning permission had been granted. DECIDED:- The application was granted on the condition that the property could not be used as a Short Term Let until Planning permission had been granted.
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EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC The Committee agreed to approve the following resolution prior to consideration of Items 10, 11, 12 and 13 as undernoted:- “That under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1973 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it may involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act 1973.” HEARING TO CONSIDER THE SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF A TAXI/PRIVATE HIRE CAR DRIVER’S LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting the Committee to consider the suspension or revocation of a Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver’s Licence held by Mr Richard Mullan. Members first heard from Mr Anderson in explanation of the process surrounding consideration of the suspension or revocation of a Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver’s Licence and then from Sergeant Holmes in detail of the request for the suspension from Police Scotland. Members then heard from Mr McDougall, Solicitor and Representative regarding the request for the suspension of the licence. After discussion Members agreed that no action should be taken. DECIDED:- Members agreed that no action should be taken. APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A TEMPORARY TAXI/PRIVATE HIRE CAR DRIVER’S LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting the Committee to consider an application for grant of a temporary Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver's Licence for Mr Farhat Ullah. Members first heard from Mr Anderson in explanation of the application and then from Sergeant Holmes in detail of the comments received from Police Scotland. Members then heard from Mr Ullah in support of the application. After discussion and having heard Mr Ullah in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, Members agreed to refuse the application on the grounds that the applicant was not a fit and proper person to hold a temporary Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver’s Licence.
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DECIDED:- Members agreed to refuse the application on the grounds that the applicant was not a fit and proper person to hold a temporary Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver’s Licence. ADJOURNMENT Councillor O’Neill, Chair, adjourned the meeting for a short recess. The meeting reconvened at 3.42 p.m. with all those Members and officers listed in the sederunt present. APPLICATION FOR RENEWAL OF A TAXI/PRIVATE HIRE CAR DRIVER’S LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting the Committee to consider an application for renewal of a Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver's Licence for Mr Robert Kelly. Members first heard from Mr Anderson in explanation of the application and then from Sergeant Holmes in detail of the representation from Police Scotland. Members then heard from Mr McDougall, Solicitor and Representative who advised Members the fine issued by the Procurator Fiscal had now been paid. Members also heard from Mr Kelly in support of his application. After discussion and having heard Mr McDougall and Mr Kelly in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, Members agreed to the renewal of the licence application. DECIDED:- Members agreed to the renewal of the licence. APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A TAXI/PRIVATE HIRE CAR DRIVER’S LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting the Committee to consider an application for grant of a Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver's Licence for Ms Caitlin Rainey. Members first heard from Mr Anderson in explanation of the application. Members agreed to hear from Police Scotland advising of both their objection and also information submitted containing spent convictions held by the applicant. Members then heard from Sergeant Holmes regarding the objection and spent convictions. Members then heard from Mr McDougall, Solicitor and Representative and Ms Rainey in support of the application.
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After discussion and having heard Mr McDougall and Ms Rainey in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, Members agreed to grant the application. DECIDED:- Members agreed to grant the application. The meeting closed at 4.24 p.m.