Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Councillor S Morgan.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2021.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2021 were agreed as an accurate record.

The Committee received a report which sought approval for the proposed taxi and private hire licensing fees and charges, as set out in appendix 2 of the report, for consultation purposes and statutory advertising requirements. 

Taxi licensing fees are currently being charged separately in the legacy district council areas, with different licence fees, charges and fee structures being applied. A table of the existing fees charged in the legacy district council areas was provided at appendix 1 of the report . Further to the approval of the new Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy at the Council meeting on the 24th February 2021, it is now necessary to align all fees and charges relating to taxi licensing to enable full implementation of the policy and consistency across the Council area. New fees would come into effect from the implementation date of the Policy, currently scheduled to be 6th September 2021.

Taxi fees are required by law to be cost neutral and the relevant legislation and case law set out the elements of the licensing process which could be included in the calculation of fees. The relevant legal provisions were set out in the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (‘the Act’) and specifically section 53 with respect to driver licences and section 70 in relation to vehicle and operator licences, both of which permit the recovery of a reasonable fee for the grant of a licence.

If the proposed fee levels were to be approved for the purposes of consultation and statutory advertising requirements, a further report would be brought before the Licensing Committee with a recommendation to implement the final proposed new fees and charges, subject to any amendments following consultation.

Members were invited to ask questions of officers. In response to a query regarding the budget position for the Aylesbury Vale area and why there was a budget surplus of £100k for the Aylesbury Vale area in 2020/21 compared to a deficit in the other council areas, officers explained that this was likely partly due to how trade moves between the areas and that Aylesbury had a large increase in licence applications following the introduction of the Deregulation Act which enabled the drivers and the trade more generally to choose more freely where they wanted to apply for a licence.  The Committee were advised that the Aylesbury Vale area reserve fund was routinely used at financial year end to offset staffing costs within the service and to fund service improvements including IT and digital development which represented an appropriate and legitimate approach and was in accordance with the associated requirements in the Act. Current budget projections indicated that any Aylesbury Vale surplus would be fully utilised within the service by 6th September 2021 when the new Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy would be implemented. Should this not be the case then it would be included in the rolling review of fees and charges within the service going forward.

With regard to ensuring that the consultation would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Lindsey Vallis (Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries & Crematoria Services) to provide a verbal update.

Lindsey Vallis (Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries & Crematoria Services) provided a verbal update on a change to the implementation date of the Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy.

The new Taxi Private Hire Licensing Policy for Buckinghamshire was approved by Full Council on 24 February with a proposed implementation date of 1 August 2021. Full Council also resolved to delegate authority to the Head of Service for Licensing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Regulatory Services, to change the implementation date of the policy, if necessary.

Since approval of the policy, officers have been working within the Licensing Service to understand and identify the steps that need to be taken to implement the policy.  Due to the considerable operational and legislative work that was required to implement the policy, it has been agreed, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Regulatory Services, that the implementation date for the policy would be changed from 1^st August to 6^th September. This new date would also fit in with the timeframes for the service improvement work which was taking place within the Licensing Service and would also enable the trade some additional recovery time as the economy starts to reopen following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.     

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

Councillor Lowen-Cooper left the meeting at 8.03pm

Provisional date of next meeting is 30 June 2021 at 6.30pm

The date of the next meeting is Wednesday 14 April 2021 at 6.30pm