Purposeful Annual General Meeting of Dundee Youth Council

Chairperson 2013/14 of Dundee Youth Council Daniel Coleman
Click on image to enlarge

Last night I attended, by invitation, the Annual General Meeting of Dundee Youth Council. Their meeting was held in the City Chambers in Dundee.

Outgoing Chairperson, Laura Gorman, presented some of the highlights from 2012/13 which are referred to in the Youth Council's Annual Report. She  also reported on the election of their new Office Bearers for the coming year. Daniel Coleman was elected as Chairperson for 2013/14. 

Laura also referred to their Manifesto which builds on their citywide survey of undertaken in 2011/12 and which had involved 4494 respondents from our nine secondary schools.

There were also updates from the members of the Youth Council who had led their campaigns over the last year including the It's No Fare Campaign. This campaign aims to:

• Lower the bus fare for all under 18's to a reasonable price;
• Improve the reliability of the buses and
• Increase the frequency of buses. 

There were also reports on some of the opportunities Youth Councillors had taken to provide a youth perspective in public consultations and in meetings. Most notably, this included Youth Councillor for Dundee East, Matthew Landsburgh, who had been appointed as a member of the Board of NHS Tayside.

It is clear that Youth Councillors and Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament in Dundee are committed to representing the interests of young people in our City and striving purposefully to do that.

Link to Summary of the Results of the Youth Council Survey 2011/12 

Licensing Committee Meeting Thursday 5 December 2012

Yesterday morning I  attended a  meeting of the Licensing Committee. This Committee deals with licenses granted by the Council including those for taxi drivers, taxi operators, window cleaners, tattooists, street traders and houses in multiple occupation; in fact just about every sort of license apart from licences for the sale of alcohol and licensed premises which are dealt with by the separate Licensing Board.

The Licensing Committee meets on a Thursday morning in the City Chambers for its regular monthly meeting at which its proceedings are considered quasi judicial. The first part of the business on the agenda is open to the press and public and deals with licenses applied for such as grant of a licence for a house in multiple occupation. In arriving at a decision, committee members, hear reports from the Council Officer who deals with the inspection of these properties to ensure they meet stringent government standards and hear any objections raised by members of the public in adjoining properties. Committee members can also question the applicant or their agent when their application comes up for decision.

The second part of the agenda includes items such as an application for a taxi driver's licence where Tayside Police have a made observations that an applicant may not be a fit and proper person to be a taxi driver. This part of the agenda is taken in private and in many instances the applicant is legally represented or has a colleague, trade union representative or family member to support them.

I find this a particularly interesting Committee to serve on.

For further information and application forms about Licensing matters please contact
Support Services Department
General Services Section
20 City Square
Dundee DD1 3BY
Tel: 434468
Email: licensing.board@dundeecity.gov.uk