Agenda item

This report introduces the council’s current Taxi Licensing Policy and the issues to be addressed as part of this scrutiny review, and asks Members to agree a workplan for the review.

Consideration was given to a report, which introduced the Council’s current Taxi Licensing Policy and the issues to be addressed as part of the scrutiny review.

The topic had been registered by Councillor Gillies as Chair of the Licensing and Regulatory Committee, following a number of meetings where the committee had made decisions based on the council’s current Taxi Licensing Policy, which had highlighted aspects of the policy open to interpretation. It had therefore been agreed that the policy was in need of review to ensure that it was robust and fit for purpose.

The Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Committee had set up the Task Group and provided a remit and objectives for the review as set out on page 4 of the report. The Scrutiny Committee had also requested production of a draft final report for their consideration in March 2011, prior to the Licensing Unit carrying out their survey of unmet demand.

The Licensing Manager with the assistance of the Taxi Licensing Officer gave a presentation (full details of which are attached to these minutes as an Annex), which provided an overview of the City of York Council’s Licensing Policy, which included:

• The aims of Licensing
• Differences between Hackney and Private Hire vehicles
• Number of vehicle licences and conditions attached
• Driver requirements
• Details of fares and how they are set
• Fees and governance

• Suggested scrutiny topics:

·                    Quantity controls

·                    Licence conditions

·                    Taxi ranks

·                    Opportunities to enhance the provision

• Quantity restrictions, waiting lists and derestriction
• Vehicle licence conditions
• Taxi ranks  - siting, use and numbers

·        Opportunities to enhance provision

• Confirmation that the taxi trade wished to promote a professional image

Members questioned a number of points and raised the following issues in relation to the presentation and current policy:

• The fact that York residents did not seem to have a culture of hailing taxi’s from the roadside
• Was taxi visibility an issue
• Comparisons required of the number hackney carriages/private hire vehicles, ranks and spaces with those of cities of a similar size and levels of tourism eg Cambridge, Bath, Canterbury, Oxford etc
• Need to raise public awareness of ranks particularly those that were underused
• Social inclusion and access issues previously raised and whether recent changes made were sufficient
• Whether charges were made for wheelchairs/guide dogs
• Type of meters used eg calendar/time controlled, issue of receipts and payment by credit card
• Benefits and disadvantages of de-regulation and the reasons why some Local Authorities were returning to restricting the number of licensed hackney carriage vehicles in their areas
• Could vehicle licences be structured to encourage the licensing of more electric vehicles to reduce pollution in the city? Confirmation that electric vehicles were exempt from obtaining a vehicle licence
• What impact would the setting up of a low emission zone have for the city
• Confirmation that, following a recent court case, the authority had no specific policy on emissions standards
• Authority did not specify the maximum age of taxi/private hire vehicles
• Government guidance was awaited on the level of wheelchair accessible vehicles required in the city
• Investigation of the availability of side loading electric vehicles and the provision of recharging points
• Personal safety issues eg justification for the provision of CCTV in newly licensed vehicles
• Details of the unmet demand and waiting time at ranks surveys undertaken by Halcrow

Following further discussion it was

RESOLVED:    i)          That the next meeting of the Task Group be arranged for w/c 13 December 2010, members to be emailed to arrange a suitable date. ^1.

ii)                  That the information requested by Members be sought prior to the next meeting to further inform the Task Group. ^2.

REASON:                     To ensure compliance with scrutiny procedures, protocols and work plans.