Agenda item

Purpose: To assist the Committee in considering the options available to the Council to assist the local taxi trade to ‘go greener’ and provide incentives that entice them to switch to ultra-low emission vehicles. The discussion will also assist with formulating a response to the Motion tabled at the 18 January 2022 Council meeting for the Executive to consider. The Motion sought to introduce a fee based incentive scheme to help all forms of vehicles licensed by West Berkshire for public transport to ‘go green’.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 5), which outlined several options available to the Council to assist the  West Berkshire Taxi Trade to ‘go greener’ and provided incentives to the trade to encourage them to switch to ultra-low emission vehicles. This included suggestions such as free parking with charging points and subsidising the purchase of Electric Vehicles (EVs). This report was in response to a Motion submitted to Council by Councillor Adrian Abbs which sought to introduce a fee based incentive scheme to help all forms of vehicles licensed by West Berkshire for public transport to go green.

The Chairman emphasised that West Berkshire Council should not become a money lender.
Councillor David Marsh questioned whether there was a fully electric cab within West Berkshire and Moira Fraser confirmed there was at least one.

Councillor Marsh believed there should be a fee based incentive, which included a full discount for EVs and a 50% reduction for hybrid vehicles. Councillor Marsh did not support the capping of EV charge points, as it was too complex and he emphasised the Committee should aim for simplicity. Councillor Marsh thought offering free parking was a valid option, but only during overnight hours and he favoured cash grants over loaning, as providing loans could be complicated and would slow down how quickly the Council could implement the policy. Councillor Marsh also noted that the Council needed to consider that the Government already provided a £1500 grant for the purchase of EVs, and Oxford City Council provided a £5000 grant for the same. Councillor Marsh surmised that moving in a more eco-friendly direction would benefit the Taxi Trade, as customers would favour using the greener option, however the Trade would need help to offer this service.

Councillor Pask explained that it would not be right to provide large grants, especially as market forces were working in favour of consumers that had switched to EVs, because of the rise in fuel prices. Councillor Marsh added that loaning and grants were two separate processes, as grants were easier to distribute and would encourage people to buy EVs. Councillor Bridgman fully agreed that a grant could be used to encourage the purchase of EVs, especially due to the expensive nature of these vehicles.

Councillor Bridgman noted that there were two issues with EVs brought up by the Taxi Trade; firstly, the expense of the vehicles and secondly, the distance that could be covered by EVs. Councillor Bridgman wanted to see the potential figures for the fee system, so the implications of the system on the Council budget could be reviewed. He did not agree with the capping of the costs of EV charging points and agreed with Councillor Marsh on the issue of overnight parking. Councillor Bridgman finalised that grants should not take on a lender model and that £5000 would be too much money to give as a grant.

Councillor Ardagh-Walter averred that he would be in favour of a reasonable grant, with an annual review and with a view to taper away. The Chairman asked for clarification over a potential time limited response for the grants of which, Councillor Ardagh-Walter responded that this would depend on a review of market trends and the uptake of the grant.

Councillor Vickers then stressed that the EV parking spaces had to be dedicated, so they were not used as free parking spaces, which could prevent other EV drivers from charging their vehicles.

Moira Fraser then asked Members to go through each of the recommendations.

The Chairman started with the first recommendation on whether a fee based incentive, such as that set out in paragraph 5.3, should be introduced to the 2023-24 budget, if so; should it be introduced for hybrid and EVs, what the level of subsidy should be and how long the subsidy should be in place for.

Moira Fraser stated that there seemed to be a general agreement in the room over the fee based incentive, however she needed to know several items from the Committee:

·         Whether the grant would be for hybrid and EVs or just EVs and the suggestion in the room, at the time, was that there would be a 100% reduction for EVs and 50% for hybrid vehicles.

·         Whether the incentive would be for three years or one year.

·         A form of criteria for hybrid vehicles.

Moira Fraser quoted a possible criteria which had been provided by Jenny Graham based on other local authority policies “zero emission capable, which included plug-in hybrid vehicles, must be able to drive without any exhaust emissions, as well as a maximum GCO2 per kilometre, in terms of the minimum distance”, of which Jenny Graham recommended “50 grams per kilometre and would be able to travel at least 70 miles or 112 kilometres without the production of any emissions at all”.

Councillor Pask raised concerns that only the more expensive models could reach up to 70 miles without emissions, with most models only achieving 30-40 miles without any emissions and that most cars did not achieve the range advertised. The Chairman asked whether the Committee should base this on manufacturer’s claims and Councillor Pask advised that this would have to be the case, due to the driver being a factor that could affect the mileage.

Councillor Bridgman expressed that the proposal fleshed out within paragraph 5.10 was for the first ten adopters each year to have the reduction and that this was in contrast to the 100% for EVs and 50% for hybrids. It was also asked for Officers to give guidance on when the fees would be paid. The Chairman queried whether it was necessary to restrict the number to ten, of which Councillor Bridgman replied that he was thinking of the potential cost if the entire fleet wanted to apply. Mr Murphy stated the Council would not want to implement the removal of fees, if or when, the entire fleet would be using EVs.

Moira Fraser added that there were in total, 138 Private Hire and 123 Hackney Carriages with licences as of the 01 April 2022 and if this was multiplied by the fee of £250 that would be the cost of the scheme if everyone was to apply. Councillor Ardagh-Walter explained that there was a bigger risk being taken by Adult Social Care and that the Committee did not know how many would take up the scheme, therefore the Committee should not cap the fees and that Officers should take that on board when setting the budget. This was met with a general consensus.

Councillor Ardagh-Walter would have liked to see a criteria set out for the eligibility of vehicles due to recent green washing.

It was agreed that the Committee would recommend to the Executive that a 100% subsidy should be applied to full electric vehicles and a 50% reduction for hybrid vehicles. The number should not be limited, but this should be revisited annually. Officers were asked to revisit the criteria in light of the discussion on the range of hybrid vehicles.

The Chairman moved onto the next recommendation in regard to the capping of the cost of EV charges for taxi licences, which Moira Fraser stated, that what she heard from the room, was that Members were not in favour of that proposal. The Committee was in agreement.

The Chairman moved onto recommendation three over free parking for EV charging and Moira Fraser pointed out that there seemed to be an agreement over this, with the caveat of it being restricted to overnight parking. Councillor Hooker wanted to know how overnight would be defined. Moira Fraser responded that the parking team would need to be consulted about timings and locations where this could be achieved. Councillor Linden highlighted the issues around the closing times of some of the car parks and how this would restrict taxi drivers, which the Chairman responded, that this would be applicable to some, but not others and that the Committee was looking at the issue in principle. 

The Chairman then asked for councillors views on distributing cash grants for the purchase of EVs (recommendation four).

Councillor Bridgman emphasised that it would depend on the budget, as the more money that would be offered, the more attractive buying an EV would become. The Chairman added that it would be better to ask Officers to come back with a costed proposal. Councillor Pask stated that the Council had to be fiscally responsible with tax payer’s money.

The Chairman then moved on to whether Members would support a budget bid to purchase EVs (recommendation five), which would then be loaned to the trade and stated that, from the previous conversation, this was not felt to be an option. The Committee was in agreement.

The Chairman felt that the same could be said of West Berkshire Council setting up a fund, so the Council could act as a lender to the trade to purchase EVs (recommendation six). The Chairman then highlighted that he would have been interested, if this fund was set up in conjunction with a private lender and Councillor Beck highlighted that there were some companies in West Berkshire that leased vehicles to businesses. Councillor Ardagh-Walter stated there were already companies that would lease to private individuals and that due to the time restrictions on Officers, this was not an option the Council should follow. Councillor Beck responded by stating that perhaps the Council could signpost the trade to the options available to them.

Moira Fraser focused on paragraph 5.48 in the report and stated the Committee had covered the majority of the points, but she needed clarification over the installation of EV charging points.

The Chairman stated that he believed the Committee would be in favour of the installation of EV charging points. Moira Fraser added that feasibility studies would be conducted towards the end of the year and Councillor Pask was in favour of these studies, but did not want to pick random figures for the charging points until there had been a professional study.

Councillor Linden asked whether the charge points were to be installed in car parks, or on the streets and Councillor Bridgman clarified this was in regard to taxi bays.

The Chairman concluded by asking that the PPP continue with the study and then return to the Committee when further information was available.

Mr Murphy added that the team would go back and look at grants available to the trade.

The Committee RESOLVED that:

(1)  In response to the Motion they would recommend to the Executive that a 100% remittance of the vehicle licence be afforded for fully electric vehicles and 50% remittance of the vehicle licence for hybrid vehicles and that the number of subsidies should not be capped but that this should be revisited on an annual basis.

(2)  Capping the cost of EV rapid charges for taxis licensed on the West Berkshire network was not supported.

(3)  Free parking for the trade needing to charge their business vehicles should be provided overnight in eligible car parks following discussions about suitable locations and timeframes with the Parking Team.

(4)  In regards to cash grants the Committee agreed that Officers come back with a range of costed options for the Committee to consider.

(5)  Loaning and leasing of EVs were not seen as viable options for West Berkshire Council at the current time albeit that they could signpost the trade to options available.