MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE FIRE AND PUBLIC SAFETY SELECT COMMITTEE HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON MONDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2001 COMMENCING AT 10.00 AM

Present :

Mr D J Knowles (Chairman), Mr B E Abraham, Mr J R Adams, Mr C B W Chapman, Mrs B E Foster, Mr V J Morey, Mr A J Mundy (deputising for Mr A A Taylor), Mr R A Sutton, Mrs J L Wareham

Also Present (non voting) :

Mr J A Bowker, Mr E Fox, Mrs M J Lloyd, Mr R G Mazillius, Mrs J White

Apologies :

Mrs M J Miller, Mr I R Stephens, Mr A A Taylor

1. MINUTES

RESOLVED :

THAT the Minutes of the meeting held on 18 May 2001 be confirmed.

2. REPORT OF THE HEAD OF SELECT COMMITTEE SUPPORT

(a) Dezoning and/or Deregulating Taxis

The Head of Select Committee Support presented his report on Dezoning and/or Deregulating Taxis.

Members were reminded that a report into the dezoning and deregulating of taxis had been considered at meetings of the Fire and Public Safety Select Committee held on 12 January and 30 April 2001. Recommendations from those meetings were made to the Executive on 24 May 2001.

The Committee were advised that the taxi trade had now formed an Isle of Wight Taxi Proprietors Association, members asked to see the constitution and a list of the membership.

The Committee adjourned to enable the Chairman, Portfolio Holder, Senior Solicitor and Head of Select Committee Support to look at the constitution for the newly formed Isle of Wight Taxi Proprietors Association.

Upon reconvening the Committee discussed the setting up of a Hackney Carriage Working Party. It was suggested that the Working Party should be made up of five elected members and five members of the taxi trade, preferably representing different areas of the Island. The terms of reference for the Working Party were also discussed.

The Working Party were asked to report their findings on dezoning and/or deregulating taxis to the Fire and Public Safety Select Committee meeting due to be held on 19 November 2001.

RESOLVED :

(i) THAT a Hackney Carriage Working Party be established and to be made up of five elected members and five members of the taxi trade, preferably representing different areas of the Island.

(ii) The terms of reference to be :

(1) To provide a forum where taxi proprietors and the Council could consider matters of mutual future relevance on matters raised by either side with the view to achieving service improvement in terms of price, quality and safety.

(2) To consider the definition used by the Council for Suitably Adapted Vehicles for disabled use and make recommendations to the Fire and Public Safety Select Committee.

(b) Fire and Public Safety Select Committee Workplan

The Head of Select Committee Support referred to the Committee's Away Day in July 2001 when a number of issues were highlighted as work priorities. These had now been programmed into a workplan.

In discussing the workplan for meetings of the Committee between September 2001 and April 2002 a number of amendments were suggested. There was a need for a Task Group to be formed to deal with the Community Fire Safety Plan and terms of reference for this were circulated.

RESOLVED :

(i) THAT the draft workplan be approved subject to the following changes :

(1) Contaminated Land Strategy to go straight to the Executive.

(2) Dezoning and/or deregulating taxis to be included in the 19 November 2001 meeting.

(3) The National Review of Civil Protection to be removed from the 19 November 2001 meeting as it had already been included in the 15 October 2001 meeting.

(ii) THAT a Community Fire Safety Task Group be established with the following terms of reference :

To support the annual Community Fire Safety Plan in reducing the number of fire, fire deaths and injuries in accidental fires in dwellings; the Group would be expected to :

(1) Study the causes of dwelling fires, deaths and injuries sustained in such fires;

(2) Identify areas to improve performance in reducing the number of fires in dwellings, accidental fire deaths and serious non-fatal casualties;

(3) Contribute to the annual Community Fire Safety Plan, which is the strategy document to tackle the problem;

(4) Translate the strategy into a prioritised and timetabled action plan;

(5) Evaluate the strategy against the national key performance indicators.

The role of the Group would be to enforce and encourage fire safety within the community, react to local/national trends and progressive ideas.

3. REVIEW OF APPOINTMENTS TO OUTSIDE BODIES

The Director of Corporate Services reported on the process involving Select Committees with regard to the appointment of outside bodies. The Town and Parish Councils would be advised of any vacancies. Members indicated that they would like to receive further details regarding each organisation.

RESOLVED :

THAT the Executive be recommended to approve the following appointments to outside bodies :

CHAIRMAN