Report of the Director of Early Intervention and Support (enclosed).

The Director of Early Intervention and Support submitted a report for the Licensing and Public Safety Committee to approve the advertisement of revised Fees and Charges for Taxi Licensing based on cost apportionment.

The current fees and charges were agreed by the Licensing and Public Safety Committee in July 2014 and following a consultation period came into force on 1 October 2014.

Chorley Council had a requirement to review the fees and charges on a regular basis to ensure that the costs of the service were reflected. The Council must ensure that legislative requirements were met with regard to the structure of the fees and that the fees are not used to raise revenue and any surplus or deficit be carried forward on a 3 year cycle. Revised fees must be subject to an advertising period of a minimum of 28 days within the local press and consideration of any objections by members.

The Council’s Financial Services department reviewed the fees and charges against the updated process maps and time allocations for each activity, which were appended to the report. Members were asked to note that the fees were based on time allocation; the addition of costs associated with the provision of the service was then averaged on the number of each licence issued.

Members noted that additional time allocations had been included for the provision of replacement documents, for Head of Service and/or Director involvement with a number of escalated cases and the costs of training included, which were absent in previous review in 2014. This was not additional work; it was part of the process and included in the review for completeness.

Attention was given to ensuring that that time allocations and associated costs were accurate and fully reflected the time spent on each of the individual taxi licences. The anomaly of the application for two badges compared to a single badge had been resolved. The process maps used to allocate time to each activity had been updated and reflected the additional time required to process a dual application in a clearer manner.

The costs of the unmet demand survey report produced by the contractor was known as £7040 excluding VAT, plus agreed Council Officer costs of £900.00, which would need to be evenly charged amongst the 36 Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licences at their next renewal following agreement of the Fees and Charges. This would equate to £220.55 one off additional cost to the licence renewal fee. This information would be communicated to the relevant proprietors as part of their renewal process.

Following queries, Members were reminded that consultation with the Trade was included in the recommendations and the Trade had to pay for any increase to these fees as part of the service from the Council. Members discussed the cost of complaints to the council and therefore stressed that they only be made when necessary.

After careful consideration it was proposed by Councillor Adrian Lowe, seconded by Councillor Matthew Lynch, and subsequently RESOLVED;

1.    to approve the advertisement of revised Fees and Charges for Taxi Licensing based on the principle of cost apportionment.

2.    that the Regulatory Services Manager reports back to the next appropriate Licensing and Public Safety Committee where consideration to any objections to the fees would be required.

3.    that, where no objections were received, the new Fees and Charges would be implemented from 1 October 2017.