Agenda item

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so. Members of the public may speak on agenda items or on matters within the remit of the committee.

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[Cllr Myers joined the meeting at 4.35pm].

It was reported that there had been nine registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Rob Collins spoke on the Street Trading Policy under the general remit of the committee. He explained his business as specialising in ice cream. He noted his concerns regarding section 8.2 of the new policy and the role of Make it York (MiY). He explained that the process within that section highlighted how vulnerable street traders were. He explained the impact of the licences being extended to March 2025 on a member of staff.

[Cllr Warters joined the meeting at 4.37pm)

Rob Collins asked for help to protect the livelihoods of street traders and he highlighted the creation of a Street Traders Charter.

Margaret Rush spoke on the Street Trading Policy under the general remit of the committee. She noted that she was one of two company directors of Graham’s Ices which was celebrating 50 years of trading and whose family lived in York and contributed to the economy by supporting fundraising events. She noted the uncertainty of how business would be affected. She explained the formation of a street traders alliance and the Street Trading Charter. She added that the council Licensing team and MiY had said that they would work with street traders.

Tom Jackson spoke on the Street Trading Policy under the general remit of the committee. He gave an update on the position with street traders and explained that they were happy with the Street Trading Policy apart from section 8.2 which allowed MiY to remove street traders during busy period. He noted that section 8.2 had been brought in to deal with street peddlers and was deeply unfair. He noted that MiY had expressed an interest in using St Sampson’s Square differently. He asked how the Street Trading Charter could be added to the agenda and thanked Licensing officers for meeting with street traders. 

Arshad Mahmood (Chairman of York City Taxi Association) spoke on agenda item 4 Taxi Licensing - New Taxi Licensing Policy. He explained that three years to change the colour of taxis was unreasonable. He added that wheelchair accessible taxis were hard to find in black and that other taxis were black. He made a number of suggestions regarding the policy and suggested that the age restriction should not apply to wheelchair accessible and hybrid vehicles, and that CCTV should be optional. He noted that out of town drivers showed no interest in wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Gary Graham spoke on agenda item 4 Taxi Licensing - New Taxi Licensing Policy. He explained that he had been a taxi driver for over 20 years. He asked if the council had appealed to have the 2009 court decision overturned. He noted that a uniform colour was not necessary for hackney carriage vehicles. Regarding the 51% of survey respondents strongly agreeing that they would ‘feel safe’ in a taxi/private hire vehicle with tinted windows, he noted that not all survey respondents answered the question on colour.

Alan Brewer (Secretary of York Taxi Associaton) spoke on agenda item 4 Taxi Licensing - New Taxi Licensing Policy. He noted that he had been a taxi driver for over 30 years. He explained that there had been no consultation from the council about about having all taxis black. He suggested that the council had been dishonest with York residents. He noted York Disability Rights Forum’s response to the consultation noting the need to more wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Daniel Smith spoke on agenda item 4 Taxi Licensing - New Taxi Licensing Policy. He explained that taxi drivers should be given more leeway on vehicle tints as it could not be guaranteed that new vehicles would have 30% light transmission.

Mohammed Ifrar spoke on agenda item 4 Taxi Licensing - New Taxi Licensing Policy. on behalf of Arfan Asif (hackney carriage driver), who was unable to attend the meeting. He explained that the policy should not impose age limits on age limits on vehicles. He noted that the policy was creating serious challenges and put a heavy financial penalty on drivers. He noted that Euro 6 diesel vehicles were allowed to enter the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in London and he added that if the council was serious about the climate it should offer financial support to drivers. He asked the committee to reconsider the 10 year limit on vehicles.

Stephen Brown ((Director of Streamline Taxis) spoke on agenda item 4 Taxi Licensing - New Taxi Licensing Policy. He explained that he agreed with most of the policy as asked the committee to reconsider and make exemptions for school transport work and wheelchair accessible vehicles. He welcomed the relaxing of the rules on tinted windows.

[At this point, Cllrs Warters and Myers had no declarations of interest].