Agenda item

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 5) which set out how, save for the private hire operator and hackney carriage and private hire vehicle licence fees, the Committee had already agreed that the fees and charges proposed at its meeting on 8 November 2021 be recommended to full Council for approval. The report also contained the matters which had arisen from the statutory 28 day consultation period relating to variations to operators and vehicle licence fees, and their impact on the proposed fees. The Committee was invited to agree a recommendation to Council.

Mrs Fraser introduced the report and advised that the consultation had been undertaken as agreed and two responses had been received from members of the public. No objections had been received from the trade which indicated that the trade appeared to be relatively supportive of the fees proposed. The two members of the public had expressed support around the introduction of a scheme to reduce or remove payments for electric or hybrid vehicles. Mrs Fraser also referred to the fee of £94 agreed on 8 November 2021 for DBS checks and advised that this had been reduced to £79 following work undertaken by officers.

Councillor Abbs talked about how the Council had declared a climate emergency but had difficulties in getting others to make that move towards zero carbon where it had no direct control. Councillor Abbs noted that the Council did, however, have levers which could help persuade others such as the taxi trade to, for example, switch to greener vehicles. This in turn could contribute towards a groundswell of residents purchasing greener vehicles.

Councillor Bridgman referred to the feedback provided by the trade that issues other than the Council’s fee structure was stopping them from moving to greener vehicles. He also noted that the report had set out driver concerns over using an electric vehicle for work which primarily related to limited mileage range on the vehicles, the purchase price, and the lack of sufficient public charge points. Councillor Bridgman explained that he would prefer to see a straightforward, equal method of charging for the items set out in the report in order to encourage the trade to move over to low emission vehicles and help further ambitions towards zero carbon. He suggested that a wider debate could be held at Council, looking at examples (such as Oxford) around subsidising vehicle purchases, and the range and state of the Council’s electric charging points, to help encourage the use of greener vehicles across the district. Councillor Bridgman confirmed that he would prefer to have a regime in place which provided a level playing field for those coming in to the trade on the fees currently being debated, and indicated his support for the recommendations proposed in the report regarding increases, decreases and adjustments.

Councillor Barnett referred to the issue of encouraging the trade to move towards the use of greener vehicles. He reflected that there had been a similar issue relating to vehicles suitable for use by those with disabilities, which had ultimately been resolved by the introduction of The Equality Act 2010 and also because of user demand. He noted that something similar could occur should consumer demand for greener vehicles increase.

Councillor Bridgman proposed that this Committee make a recommendation to Council that the fees consulted on be implemented on the 1 April 2022 without modification (as set out in paragraph 5.15(a) of the report).  The proposal was seconded by Councillor Barnett.

The Chairman indicated that he was in favour of trying to incentivise the trade to move to greener vehicles where possible, using the levers available to the Council such as fees and the availability of fast charging points on taxi ranks within the district. He referred to the comments submitted in response to the consultation which had intended for the Council to amend this round of fee setting. He did not believe this was desirable or possible however, partly because it was too late to influence the budget with regards to the amounts of money that would be involved. The Chairman noted that there would be another opportunity for this Committee to discuss this matter at its meeting on 4 July 2022 during consideration of Councillor Abbs Motion to Council, and requested that officers undertake the necessary research to propose a potential scheme that could be in the next round of fee setting and would tie in the incentive from the fees with the availability of charging and any other lever-like subsidy as mentioned by Members during the debate. The Chairman believed it was clear that should the Council implement changes now the trade would be behind and it would make very little difference to them due to the other issues they needed to resolve.

Councillor Abbs suggested that any decisions taken by the Council to help incentivise the trade to move to greener vehicles would not have a large impact on its budgets, but would promote a clear message of assistance to the trade as well as promoting the Council’s ambitions to the wider community. He was pleased to note that this matter would be included for future consideration by this Committee.

Councillor Pask queried if there would be traction in officers seeking co-operation from companies that provided electric vehicles, and who could be recompensed with suitable advertising and other incentives, to help enable taxi drivers to obtain good deals. Councillor Pask asked if this could also be included in future considerations of this matter.

The Committee RESOLVED that:

(1)  The comments received during the statutory consultation on variations to operators and vehicle licence fees as set out in Appendix B to the report be noted.

(2)  Any amendments to the proposed operators and vehicle licence fees, arising from the consultation, be considered and noted.

(3)  Council be recommended to adopt the fees without modification, as part of the annual fee setting process, coming into effect as of the 1 April 2022.