Agenda item

The Committee received a report on taxi and private hire licensing fees and charges. The Chairman provided an update for the Committee as follows:

Following agreement with the Cabinet Member for Regulatory Services, Nick Naylor and herself as Chairman of the Committee, she provided an update on a minor amendment to the Taxi Licensing Policy which would come into effect from the 6^th September 2021.

The agreed amendment enabled existing licensed vehicles that were not already subject to the age requirements set down within the Policy to continue to be licensed until the vehicle was 15 years old or until the 1^st September 2024 (whichever was the sooner). This would include wheelchair accessible vehicles that were previously licensed by Wycombe District Council as hackney carriage vehicles.

This gave the majority of the licensed trade who were not already subject to a 10 year vehicle age limit additional time to prepare and plan to change their vehicles and was aimed specifically at maintaining the level of supply of wheelchair accessible vehicles available for passengers across the Council area. It should also mean that there was a greater choice of affordable electric wheelchair accessible vehicles available in the market at the time of replacement which supported the Council’s environmental objectives. Consideration was also being given to extending the maximum age limit of larger more specialist wheelchair accessible vehicles and feedback would be provided to the Committee on this in due course.

This amendment had been made following feedback from the licensed trade on the possible impacts of this part of the Policy. Members and Officers were committed to working with the licensed trade to implement the new Policy from the 6^th September 2021.

Turning to the report, the Licensing Team Leader (Wycombe area) reported that the new Buckinghamshire Council Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy was approved at the Council meeting on the 24th February 2021 and was due to be implemented on the 6th September 2021 when the existing legacy area zones would be removed and replaced with one single operating area. As a result, it was now necessary to align all fees and charges relating to taxi licensing to enable full implementation of the policy and provide consistency across the Council area for both applicants and licence holders. Taxi fees were required by law to be cost neutral and the relevant legislation and case law set out the elements of the licensing process which can be included in the calculation of fees.

At its meeting on the 14th April 2021, the Committee agreed to approve the then proposed fees for a full consultation process. Since that meeting the fees have been advertised in newspapers throughout the council area as required by the legislation. All licence holders have also been contacted and provided with a link to information on the fees along with a feedback survey. The consultation ended on the 7th July 2021 and 84 responses were received. 81 of these were received via the website feedback form and 3 additional responses were received via email.

The majority of consultation responses (56.8%) were from licensed drivers who were not in agreement with any increase in fees. This negative response was unsurprising given that this was the only area where it was proposed that the fees would increase, as a result of the requirements of the new statutory standards. . The main reason given by drivers for not making any increase in fees (37%) was the impact that the pandemic has had on the trade over the last 15 months. There was aa deficit of approximately £90,000 across the legacy areas, although the decision had been made not to include this in calculating the new fees as it was felt not to be fair to the trade.

The proposed fees compared favourably with surrounding authorities despite the likelihood that many of these would inevitably be increased in coming months with the implementation of the statutory standards.

Taxi licensing fees and charges would be kept under close review to ensure that they have been set at an appropriate level and any surplus or deficit would be included in future reviews to ensure that the trade were paying a reasonable fee for licences, as required by the legislation. Further reports would be provided to the Committee in this respect on an annual basis.

During discussion the following points were made:

·         A Member welcomed the principle of harmonising the fees but asked about the flexibility of reviewing fees earlier to understand the impact on the taxi trade. The Licensing Team Leader reported that normally fees were reviewed on a three yearly basis but 12 months was being proposed as the Council was a new authority with a new structure. The Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries & Crematoria Services confirmed that 12 months was the earliest time to review fees as those licences were issued for three years and the income that came in would cover the cost of that three year period and needed to cover a number of areas including enforcement. A period of one year should be able to provide enough data on the volume of applications and the cost of the service. Taxi drivers could hold licences in more than one legacy area and these would be condensed into one licence and also the service currently licence out of area drivers which could change depending on Council policy changes e.g. Milton Keynes and Luton. 

·         Fees were paid at the point of application. A vehicle licence was one year and an operator licence five years.

·         Reference was made to £90,000 deficit and the Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries & Crematoria Services reported that a previous Committee had agreed not to recover the deficit from the existing taxi licensing trade. The Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries & Crematoria Services would be looking to review the figures as early as possible to understand if there was a deficit or a surplus with the fees and charges. Any profit or loss would be taken into consideration in calculating future fees.

·         Wycombe fees were reviewed 2019/20 and it was decided to freeze the fees due to the new unitary. Aylesbury’s fees were reviewed in 2018. Aylesbury was the only council running at a surplus of £100,000. Going forward with the new structure the Service area would have a full establishment structure based on demand.

·         The Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries & Crematoria Services reported that there were restrictions on the service on how funding streams were used so if the income related to vehicles that could only be used for vehicles. When fees were calculated they looked at each area separately.

·         The Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries & Crematoria Services was asked a question about feedback from the taxi trade and she commented that they had been liaising with the Licensed Private Hire Car Association since the last Licensing Committee. The Department of Transport had indicated that the increase in driver fees required to meet the statutory standards was expected to be in the region of £62.67 per year, so approximately £187 for the three year period. Members noted that the proposed fees were in that ballpark or lower. The Association understood that the fees had to be increased but were concerned about the introduction of statutory standards during the pandemic. The LPHCA represented approximately 40 operators in the council area when there were in the region of 300 operators overall.

·         In relation to private hire operator licences, reference was made to one man bands who operate their own vehicle (generally from home) compared to operators who could have 40-50 vehicles and it was necessary to make sure that the fees were fair depending on the size of the business. There were different ways to charge operator licences.

·         A Member expressed concern about the fees bearing in mind the impact of the recent pandemic and whether the fee could be set at the lowest legacy council fee.  The Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries & Crematoria Services reported it was the decision of the Committee but if the fees were reduced then the costs of the Service could not be recovered and would not be cost neutral next year. In terms of providing licences the trade was very clear that they wanted to have their licences in a timely fashion and for the Council to provide a high quality service. The Service area was investing in improved technology so many processes could be automated and they would look to reduce costs going forward. They were hopeful they could pass further efficiencies back to the trade. Setting lower fees could be a mistake as it would not cover the costs of delivering the additional requirements of the statutory standards. Generally, vehicle and operator fees were decreasing and the only increase was driver licence fees because of the new standards which have been brought in by Government to protect the public.

·         A Member commented that he would like to see a review of this as soon as possible and the impact on the taxi trade. The Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries & Crematoria Services reported that she could provide an update to Members before September 2022 but that there may not be enough evidence to review the charges at that time.

·         Reference was made to being business-like and setting a cost depending on the number and mix of licences and the structure of the service. A comment had been made that the cost of a licence should be lower for unitary councils because of efficiency savings but that was yet to be analysed.

·         Clarification was sought regarding the difference in costs and Members were referred to the Appendix in the report. A Member commented that there was an increase of 62% for Wycombe driver fees.

·         Another Member commented that he had looked at the officer report and was confident in the fees that had been set. He commented that times were tough for all residents not just taxi drivers.

·         A discussion was held and there was concern about any deficit being offset by the council tax payer. The Transition Head of Licensing, Cemeteries & Crematoria Services reported that in the next 12 months she would be able to give information on the surplus and deficit. The cost per driver per year for a licence was £101.

·         If information was available at an earlier point and changes needed to be made this would be brought to the Committee as soon as possible who could make a decision to change them. There was a process around this for example public consultation and a committee decision. If the fees needed to be varied, advertising would be carried out over a 28 day period. The process of amending fees could be carried out within a three month period.

·         A number of responses referred to an apparent new requirement that all vehicle licence holders would be required to travel to Aylesbury for vehicle testing. Although feasibility studies were currently ongoing in relation to future vehicle testing requirements, there was currently no proposal for all licensed vehicles to be tested at the in-house garage at Pembroke Road in Aylesbury. Other areas could be tested through authorised testing centres and this would not be included in council fees and charges. Clarification on this would be sent to Members for information.

On a vote being taken (proposed by Councillor Wood, seconded by Cllr Town) with six votes in favour and one against it was RESOLVED that the proposed fees and charges set out at Appendix 1 of the report were agreed to become effective as of the 6th September 2021.