Agenda item

Report of the Director of Public Protection, Streetscene and Communities (enclosed)

The Committee received a report of the Director of Public Protection, Streetscene and Community advising Members of a review that had been undertaken on the cost apportionment of fees and charges for Private Hire and Hackney Carriage licences issued by the Council’s Regulatory Services Team. The report also sought approval for the implementation of a new fees and charges structure based on apportionment of costs.

The current fee structure was set several years ago and over recent years has only been subject to inflationary increases or frozen subject to Member decisions in any particular year.

A review of how the fees and charged are calculated and costs apportioned was undertaken for a number of reasons that included:

·         Local authorities are being increasingly challenged to demonstrate their fees and charges structure meets legislative requirements

·         Recent case law has provided clarity on some of the principles against which fees and charges can be set

·         It has been several years since a review of this nature has been undertaken

·         Such a review is seen as good practice

·         Representatives of Chorley’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire trade had requested a review to demonstrate how the fees and charges were arrived at for the variety of taxi related licences

A significant piece of work has been undertaken by Financial Services to establish the activities and costs relating to each licence type and the Committee were provided with a detailed breakdown within the report. Members also noted that there have been significant changes with regards to the administration of licencing in recent times.

There are also a number of third party costs such as Driving Standards Agency (DSA) testing, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS, formally CRB) checks and vehicle testing charges, which include a Ministry of Transport (MOT) test and Chorley Council Taxi test, additional to the administration and monitoring costs apportioned to the individual licences.

Medical costs could also vary for an individual driver dependant on their medical history and conditions identified. In order to be able to include this cost as a standard licence fee, the charge for this service has been averaged across all the appropriate licences. This was a decision agreed by the Committee in December 2011.

Although some fees and charges had reduced, there were still some considerable increases and representatives from the taxi trade present at the meeting voiced their concerns about some of the increases, including the Private Hire Driver’s Grant Badge. It was brought to the Committee’s attention that some drivers were obtaining licences from nearby authorities that were lower in price and then driving in the Chorley borough. The Chorley trade were concerned that this practice would increase.

Officers explained that the Council can impose reasonable fees for the different licences under legislation. Any costs should be reasonable and based on the principle of costs recovery. The proposed changes in vehicle and operator licence fees would be subject to a statutory 28 day advertisement in the local press and a notice be placed on deposit at the Council offices for public inspection.

It was proposed by Councillor Adrian Lowe, seconded by Councillor Gordon France and subsequently RESOLVED unanimously:

1.    To approve the new fees and charges framework and implementation of new fees and charges structure based on the principle of apportionment costs.

2.    To implement all new fees and charges immediately subject to a statutory 28 day advertisement in the local press and consideration by members, of any objections.

3.    To approve a regular review (at least every three years) of these fees and charges based on apportionment of costs, the results of any such reviews to be reported to the Licensing and Public Safety Committee. 

(Councillor Jean Cronshaw left the meeting)