Agenda item

The Chair returned to item 3 on the agenda.

The Environmental Health Manager – Commercial presented the report regarding Fees for Drivers, Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicles and Private Hire Operators as the Senior Licensing and Compliance Officer (Compliance) had not been able to connect to the meeting. The report asked the Committee to review and approve the licence fees for the purpose of consultation and advertising requirements in respect of Hackney Carriage, Private Hire and Operator Licences with effect from 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023. If approved, the proposed fees would be duly advertised for the required period. Following the consultation, a further report would be brought to this committee with a recommendation to implement the final proposed fees and charges, subject to any amendments following consultation. He said Members would note that the proposed fees would not be going up significantly this year, although the Operators fee would rise to reflect genuine costings in the department.

Councillor Lees proposed the recommendation set out in the report; this was duly seconded by Councillor Caton.

RESOLVED to review and approve the licence fees set out at Appendix B in respect of Hackney Carriage, Private Hire and Operator Licences with effect from 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023. The proposed fees will be subject to a full consultation process with the licensed trade and other relevant parties. Section 70 of the Act sets out statutory advertising requirements in relation to vehicle and operator licences, which require that an advert must be published within a local newspaper and at least 28 days provided for comments to be made. It is proposed that this consultation period will begin in January 2022, after the seasonal holiday period has ended.

Following the statutory consultation process, a further report will be presented to this committee at the next meeting, setting out the results of the consultation and any amendments made to the proposed fees as a result. If approved, the final proposed fees will take effect from the 01 April 2022.

The meeting was closed at 7.52pm.

Summary of Public Statement(s) – 16 November 2021

Andy Mahoney

Mr Mahoney began by passing on his best wishes to Mr Drinkwater who had given his apologies for the meeting. He said staffing issues had hit the trade and one of his driver’s had tragically passed away due to Covid-19. He then spoke on the length of time it took to get a license; this was exacerbating the problem of attracting new staff who could find similar driving work in other industries e.g. pharmaceutical deliveries. He said this was having a major impact on school runs, and he provided an example of a recent plea to help 86 children who needed to be taken to school. A further 300 children were being taken by operators who were not on the tender list. Another problem he faced was getting drivers across the country to come to Uttlesford for training. The organiser of the training had said they were willing to conduct training across the country and he asked that this be looked in to.