Agenda item

The Senior Licensing Officer presented a report recommending that consultations take place to review the Council’s licence fees applicable to Hackney Vehicles and Drivers and Private Hire Operators, Vehicles and Drivers. It was noted that although there was a legal requirement to advertise a change in some of the fees there was no legal requirement to consult.  Any objections would be considered before a decision was taken regarding any increases.

The Committee on 4 November 2008 and Cabinet on 20 May 2009 had resolved that Hackney carriage and private hire licence fees should be increased with effect from 1 June 2009 to their current level and they had not been increased since that date, although administration and other Council costs had increased during that time.  The process for the revision of Hackney/Private Hire fees is set out in legislation and allows local authorities to set fees intended to recover their reasonable costs but not to charge fees intended to make a profit.

Mr S Willsher addressed the Committee, stating that the proposed fees were not uniform and that the percentage increases varied considerably from a minimum of 7% to many at 33% and 50%.  He stated that the increases were unfair and should be reduced, either no increase or a maximum of 5%, and should be uniformly applied.  There had been no increase in Hackney Carriage fares since 2008 and if they were to be increased in May 2013 this would be for the first time in five years.

Members noted that the purpose of the report was to agree to consultation on the proposed fees and that the proposals would be looked at closely in relation to consultation responses which were received.

Mr H Shah addressed the Committee at the Chair’s discretion and asked why this issue had not been considered by the Working Party at the time they had considered the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire testing criteria as this would also affect drivers’ livelihoods.

In response it was stated that the two issues were covered by different legislation and the consultation periods could not be run together as they had different timescales.  The issue of licence fees was also beyond the scope of a Working Party and any objections would have to be considered by the Committee itself.  Any increases would be based on the recovery of costs, not on making a profit.

Mr M Jadoon addressed the Committee at the Chair’s discretion and spoke of the importance of the DfT guidelines and Office of Fair Trading guidance plus the Law Commission inquiry into licensing which was currently underway.

The Chair ruled that Mr Jadoon’s comments were not relevant to this item and related to the report covered at item 6 above.

It was noted that the results of any consultation would be reported to the additional meeting of the Committee it was proposed to hold on 11 February 2013 (minute 11 below refers).

RESOLVED:

1.         That, subject to the results of the consultation, with effect from 1 April 2013 the proposed above fees be revised in line with the recommendations at Appendix A to the report.

2.         That the proposed increase is advertised in the local press in line with the legal requirements.

3.         That consultation should take place with those who are subject to the increase, even though there is no legal requirement to do so, and that any objections should be considered before any increase is implemented.