Agenda and draft minutes

There were no Declarations of Interest made by Members at this point in the meeting.

“To Follow”.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Licensing Committee, held on 28 April 2025, were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The Licensing Officer will provide a verbal update, if applicable, on any licensing appeals that have been made since the last meeting of the Committee.

There were no updates to be provided.

NOTED

There were no urgent items.

NOTED

To consider passing a Resolution Pursuant to Section 100A

(4) Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972 excluding the

press and public from the meeting during consideration of the

following items on the grounds that if present there would be

disclosure to them of exempt information falling within

paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act

and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs

the public interest in disclosing the information.

ORDERED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that, if present, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Director of Environment and Community Services submitted an exempt report in connection with an application for a Private Hire Vehicle Driver Licence, Ref: 17/25, where circumstances had arisen which required special consideration by the Committee.

The Chair introduced those present and outlined the procedure to be followed.  The applicant, who was in attendance at the meeting, verified his name and address and confirmed he had received a copy of the report and understood its contents. 

The Principal Licensing Officer advised that the Committee had been provided with the following documents:-

·        Committee report, circulated with the agenda on 1 May 2025, including:

-        Appendix 1 – Decision notice of Stockton Council’s General Licensing Committee, held 8 November 2002, when the applicant’s licence was revoked.

-        Appendix 2 - Decision notice of Stockton Council’s General Licensing Committee, held 23 October 2004, when the applicant’s fresh application was refused. 

·        Additional information, circulated on 9 May 2025:

–          Copy of applicant’s enhanced DBS certificate, dated 17 September 2024.

-        Letter from Cleveland Police confirming ‘No Further Action’ to be taken against the applicant, dated 9 June 2021.

-        Email from Cleveland Police confirming ‘No Further Action’ to be taken against the applicant, dated 25 May 2022.

-        Cleveland Police Officer’s Report, dated 7 October 2022, in relation to Incident 2, reported on 4 August 2021.

-        Email response from the office of Rishi Sunak MP, dated 20 July 2023.

-        Email response from the office of Matt Vickers MP, dated 7 September 2023.

-        Reference from former employer, dated 10 January 2023.

-        Email from the applicant to Licensing Department, dated 5 December 2024 containing a copy of a file note from Cleveland Police to Stockton Council Licensing Officer, dated 16 December 2012, in relation to the applicant being stopped for speeding at 45mph in a 30mph zone.

-        Email from Cleveland Police Information Management Unit, dated 5 December 2024, in relation to a subject information access request from the applicant, confirming no information held on local systems in relation to the request submitted by the applicant.

·        Additional information provided by the applicant at Committee and circulated to Members:-

-        Email from Cleveland Police, dated 11 January 2023, confirming that Stockton Council Licensing Department had not made a subject access request, but a Police disclosure in relation to the applicant’s case at that time.

-        Cleveland Police Storm Incident Report, dated 31 July 2020, in relation to Incident 1.

The Principal Licensing Officer presented a summary of the report outlining that the applicant appeared before Members due to information regarding the applicant which led to his previous Combined Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle licence with Stockton Council being revoked and a subsequent application being refused.

It was highlighted that the applicant was previously licensed with Stockton Council for approximately 22 years until his licence was revoked in November 2022.  This followed his arrest by Cleveland Police in July 2020 and again in August 2021.  When the applicant was arrested in July 2020,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/102