The council appealed against dismissal of its prosecution of the respondent, alleging the operation of a private hire vehicle without having a current licence, ‘in a controlled district’. The respondent had denied that the necessary resolution had been effectively passed creating the ‘controlled district’ as required. The defendant had produced records from the parish council to the effect that they had not been served with the necessary notices. The Council argued that the statutory provisions read as a whole showed that the notice requirement was no more than a notification requirement. It did not incept a process of consultation, nor was it there obviously to give rise to a right of objection.
Held: ‘The District Judge was entitled, upon analysis of the minutes of the Parish Council which he had received, to infer that their record-keeping minuting, including minuting of correspondence was sufficiently detailed and thorough that the receipt of a notice would have been minuted.’ However, the statutory provisions read as a whole showed that the notice requirement was no more than a notification requirement. It did not incept a process of consultation, nor was it there obviously to give rise to a right of objection.
The District judge, having made his rulings, had not considered adequately whether the compliance was effective and substantial. The case was remitted accordingly.
Treacy LJ, Ouseley J
[2013] EWHC 3765 (Admin), [2013] WLR(D) 482
Bailii
Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976 46, Town Police Clauses Act 1847
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Birmingham City Council ex parte Quietlynn Ltd 1985
The court held that on the failure of an application for a licence for a sex establishment, that part of the licence fee paid which related to the management of the supervisory regime rather than the cost of administering the application alone . .
Cited – Boddington v British Transport Police HL 2-Apr-1998
The defendant had been convicted, under regulations made under the Act, of smoking in a railway carriage. He sought to challenge the validity of the regulations themselves. He wanted to argue that the power to ban smoking on carriages did not . .
Cited – Regina v Soneji and Bullen HL 21-Jul-2005
The defendants had had confiscation orders made against them. They had appealed on the basis that the orders were made more than six months after sentence. The prosecutor now appealed saying that the fact that the order were not timely did not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Licensing, Local Government, Road Traffic
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.519011