Agenda item

The purpose of the report is to enable the Committee to consider proposed changes to the Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Licensing Policy following a review by officers and the Deregulation Act 2015, and to agree it as a basis for consultation.

Waverley’s current Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Licensing policy was originally adopted by the Council in July 2010 and was last revised on 16 July 2013.  Officers have conducted a further review of a number of conditions which they feel require updating/clarifying, to incorporate changes in legislation and also proposes the introduction of a penalty points system.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Licensing and Regulatory Committee

1.         considers the draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy at Annexe 1 and agrees it, with or without amendments, as a basis for consultation; and

2.         recommends to the Council that an interim fee of £150 be introduced for a 3-year driver’s licence.

Members received the report to enable them to consider proposed changes to the Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Licensing Policy following a review by officers and the Deregulation Act 2015, and to agree it as a basis for consultation.

An additional paper was tabled which had been received since the agenda was published.  The document was entitled ‘Suggestions Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation’ produced by the Rotherham Steering Group Against Child Sexual Exploitation and contained suggested policies, including those regarding taxi licensing, to help safeguard children.  The Committee was invited to consider the inclusions of the suggestions in the document into the Waverley Licensing Policy.

Members discussed in detail those suggestions and noted that some were already in place for licensed drivers.  The Committee noted that a number of suggestions were within the domain of the Police and others were unenforceable for Waverley licensed drivers or costs to drivers would be prohibitive.  The Committee therefore agreed not to include those suggestions in the draft Waverley Taxi Policy.

The Committee turned to the proposed changes to the Waverley Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Licensing Policy and accepted the proposed changes  A-O in the agenda report with the following comments:

L.         To ensure drivers understand the implications of accepting a Police caution.  Officers said that this was already explained to drivers.

O.        Any penalty points incurred by drivers will be added to their record and enable Officers to see when the maximum has been reached, at which time a driver would be asked to appear before the Sub-Committee.

The Committee then paged the draft Policy and identified some minor typos and changes to wording which Officers would incorporate in the draft policy prior to it going out to consultation.

The Committee was advised that the Deregulation Act 2015 had introduced three changes to taxi legislation which would come into effect on 1 October 2015, one of which meant that drivers’ licences should be granted for 3 years (or for such lesser period as the Council thinks appropriate in the circumstances of the case) instead of one year.  In order to make a 3 year driver’s licence available, the Council will need to agree an appropriate interim fee, suggested to be £150, which is not currently within the fee schedule.  It is proposed that when the fees are calculated for 2016-2017 and taken through the decision-making process for budget setting, a fee for a 3 year driver’s licence will be included.

Officers are currently calculating the appropriate level of fees for 2016/2017 and in the meantime, given that the fee for a new driver’s licence (one year) is £108 and a renewal annually is £69, the proposed £150 fee for a three-yearly licence appears to be a reasonable fee to be charged.  If after calculations the proposed fee is less than the interim fee charged, drivers will be eligible to receive a refund of the difference.  The Committee

RESOLVED   that the draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy be agreed with amendments as a basis for consultation; and the Committee further

RECOMMENDS that

4.         an interim fee of £150 be introduced for a 3-year hackneycarriage/private hire driver’s licence and included in the fee schedule for the remainder of 2015/2016.