Item 3 - DRAFT Minute of Meeting of Licensing Committee - 16 April 2025 v3
West Dunbartonshire Council · 4 June 2025
Back to Licensing Committee — 4 June 2025 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 Civic Space, 16, Church Street, Dumbarton on Wednesday, 16 April 2025 at 2.00 p.m. Present: Councillors Gurpreet Singh Johal, John Millar, Lawrence O’Neill, Chris Pollock and Gordon Scanlan. Attending: Michael McDougall, Manager of Legal Services; Robert Mackie, Senior Licensing Officer; Judi Ferguson, Building Standards Officer; Mark Walsh, Environmental Health Officer; Lawrence Knighton, Licensing Standards Officer, Carolann Anderson, Licensing Assistant and Lynn Straker, Committee Officer. Also Attending: Sergeant David Holmes, Police Scotland; Mr Allan Aire; Mr William Harrison; Ms Winnie Woods; Mr Gallagher and Mr Paul Duffie. Apologies: Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Councillors Ian Dickson, Fiona Hennebry and Hazel Sorrell. Councillor Lawrence O’Neill in Chair DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST It was noted that there were no declarations of interest in any of the items of business on the agenda. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS The undernoted Minutes of Meetings of the Licensing Committee were submitted and approved as correct records:- (a) (Ordinary) Licensing Committee held on 19 February 2025; and (b) (Special) Licensing Committee held on 10 March 2025. OPEN FORUM The Committee noted that no open forum questions had been submitted by members of the public.
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VARIATION IN ORDER OF BUSINESS After hearing the Chair, Councillor O’Neill, Members agreed to vary the order of business as hereinafter minuted. APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A LATE HOURS CATERING LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting consideration of an application for grant of a Late Hours Catering Licence at 468 Dumbarton Road, Clydebank G81 4DN submitted by Rolling Smoke Clyde Limited. Due to both the applicant and their agent being unable to attend the meeting, Members agreed to a continuation of the hearing of this application to the next meeting of the Committee. DECIDED:- Members agreed to a continuation of the hearing of this application to the next meeting of the Committee. APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A TAXI / PRIVATE HIRE CAR DRIVER’S LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting consideration of an application for grant of a Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver’s Licence submitted by Mr Allan Aire. Members first heard from the Manager of Legal Services in introduction to the application and then from Police Scotland detailing their objection to the application. Members then heard from Mr Aire in support of his application. After further discussion and having heard Mr Aire in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, Councillor O’Neill, seconded by Councillor Singh Johal, moved:- That the Committee agrees to refuse the application due to the applicant not being a fit and proper person to hold the Licence. As an amendment, Councillor Millar, seconded by Councillor Pollock, moved:- That the Committee agrees to grant the application. On a vote being taken, 2 Members voted for the amendment and 3 for the motion which was accordingly declared carried.
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DECIDED:- On a vote being taken, the application was refused due to the applicant not being a fit and proper person to hold the Licence. ADJOURNMENT The Chair adjourned the meeting for a short recess. The meeting reconvened at 2.50 p.m. with all Members listed in the sederunt present with the exception of Councillor Singh Johal. APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A TAXI/PRIVATE HIRE CAR DRIVER’S LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting consideration of an application for grant of a Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver’s Licence submitted by Mr William Harrison. Members first heard from the Manager of Legal Services in introduction to the application and then from Police Scotland detailing their objection to the application. Members then heard from Mr Harrison in support of his application. After further discussion and having heard Mr Harrison in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, the Committee agreed to the grant the Licence. DECIDED:- The Committee agreed that the application be granted. APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A SHORT TERM LET LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting consideration of an application for grant of a Short Term Let Licence for premises at Hidden Horizon Luxury Glamping, 14 West Cochno Holdings, Hardgate, Clydebank G81 6RT submitted by Mrs Winnie Woods, 14 West Cochno Holdings, Hardgate, Clydebank G81 6RT. Members first heard from Manager of Legal Services in introduction to the application and then from Ms Judi Ferguson, Building Services Officer, in detail of the Building Services objection to the application. Members then heard from Ms Winnie Woods in support of her application. After discussion and having heard Ms Woods in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, Members agreed to delegate authority to grant the application to the Chief Officer: Regeneration and Regulatory with the mandatory and local conditions or to grant
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the application with the mandatory and local conditions with an additional condition prohibiting the premises being used as a short-term let should the outstanding matters not be resolved to the satisfaction of said Chief Officer.. DECIDED:- Members agreed to delegate authority to grant the application to the Chief Officer: Regeneration and Regulatory with the mandatory and local conditions or to grant the application with the mandatory and local conditions with an additional condition prohibiting the premises being used as a short-term let should the outstanding matters not be resolved to the satisfaction of said Chief Officer. PROPOSED CHANGE TO TAXI/PRIVATE HIRE CAR LICENCE CONDITION A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting the Committee to consider an amendment to an existing condition applicable to both taxis and private hire car licences relating to vehicle insurance which would clarify that the day-to-day manager can be the holder of the insurance policy. Having heard the Manager of Legal Services in further explanation, Members agreed to the amendment in the condition. DECIDED:- Members agreed to the amendment to the existing condition relating to vehicle insurance. EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC The Committee agreed to approve the following resolution to exclude the press and public from the meeting to allow the following item to be heard:- “That under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1973 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item 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.” APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A TAXI/PRIVATE HIRE CAR DRIVER’S LICENCE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting consideration of an application for grant of a Taxi/Private Hire Car Driver’s Licence. Members first heard from the Manager of Legal Services in introduction to the application and then from Mr Harrison in support of their application. After further discussion and having heard the applicant in further explanation and in answer to
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Members’ questions, the Committee agreed that the application be granted. DECIDED:- The Committee agreed that the application be granted. REQUEST TO OPERATE A NON-WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE VEHICLE IN THE CLYDEBANK ZONE A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – Regulatory and Regeneration requesting consideration of a request from a taxi operator to use a vehicle as a taxi within the Clydebank zone which has not been adapted for wheelchair accessibility. After discussion and having heard the Manager of Legal Services and the applicant’s representative in further explanation and in answer to Members’ questions, the Committee agreed to authorise the taxi operator to use a vehicle as a taxi within the Clydebank zone which has not been adapted for wheelchair accessibility. DECIDED:- Members agreed to authorise the applicant to operate a vehicle as a taxi within the Clydebank zone which has not been adapted for wheelchair accessibility. The meeting closed at 3.30 p.m.