Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllrs Davies, Millington and Penny.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2023 and 5 January 2024 as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meetings held on 10 March 2023 and 5 January 2024 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

To note any declarations of interest made by members in connection with an agenda item.  The nature of the interest must also be specified.

Members are asked to discuss any possible interests with Democratic Services prior to the meeting.

There were none.

To receive any public participation in accordance with the Council’s public participation scheme.

There were members of the public present who had registered to speak on item 4, Taxi Fees and Charges 2024-2025. The Chairman invited them to address the Committee at the relevant time during item 4.

To consider the objections to the proposed fees raised during the public consultation period and to set the level of taxi licensing fees for the financial year 2024/25, effective from 1 April 2024.

The Chairman introduced the item and explained the running order of business. He invited the members of the public that were in attendance to address the Committee.  

Public Speakers:  

·       Paul Osborne (in objection to the proposed Taxi Fees and Charges 2024)  

·       Jason Kauder (in objection to the proposed Taxi Fees and Charges 2024) 

The main points raised by those members of the public who spoke were as follows:  

·       There was issue taken with the fact that the proposed increases did not follow a single, set percentage. Some fees and charges would increase 17% increase with others increasing by 30%. 

·       It was feared that increased fees and charges would prevent operators and drivers from continuing to work in the District and would deter potential drivers from joining the industry. 

·       It was felt that using neighbouring cities’ fees and charges as a benchmark was unreasonable as, in the case of Southampton, their taxis operated for 24 hours a day and therefore received a much higher rate of potential income. 

·       Vehicle testing costs were felt to be unfairly high. 

·       It was hoped that more taxi driver licences would be issued within the District.  

The Licensing Manager introduced the report and summarised the matter. The main points were as follows:  

·       As per section 7.2 of the Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976, if an increase to a vehicle or operator charge is proposed an advertise and 1 month consultation period must be held. Following advertisement of the proposed fees and the public consultation, 17 responses were received, and a General Purposes and Licensing Committee meeting was scheduled to consider the proposed fees and charges alongside the consultation responses and the deputations made by members of the public. 

·       Appendix 3 of the report pack indicated the wide variety of fees across 10 local authorities. 

·       Service fees and charges had not increased since 2017 despite costs to the authority increasing in the last 10 years. The authority must recover costs and therefore recommended to the Committee the proposed taxi fees and charges for 2024/2025. 

Members of the Committee were invited to make comment and ask questions on the report. The main points raised were as follows:  

·       Following a question on cost recovery, it was confirmed that the fees and charges proposed were necessary in order to cover costs to the authority and that by law, the authority were not allowed to make any profit on taxi fees or charges, therefore the proposed increases were purely a cost recovery process. 

·       On the vehicle compliance fee, the Committee heard that the figure had been calculated by the Transport Manager and it covers all costs faced by the authority. The compliance test covers a range of different mechanical matters to an MOT test and therefore has a different fee. 

·       Long waiting list for drivers wanting to take knowledge test, these are carried out weekly, unfortunately we have a low rate of people turning up following booking of the test. The Council are working to improve the pass rate by assisting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.