Decision details

The Leader of the Council is required to determine the proposal to increase the fares, as set out in Table 2 and Appendix 2, as recommended by the General Licensing committee, along with the recommendation to delegate the Senior Specialist Advisor to comply with the statutory process of publishing the proposal.

Having accepted the recommendation made by the Licensing Committee held on the 11th March 2019 I agree that the fare proposal should be notified in the local newspaper by the Senior Specialist Adviser. The notification shall be subject to a 14 day period of public consultation. Public consultation has to take place before any increase in hackney carriage fares. A further report will have to be prepared showing the results of this consultation.

Should objections be received Members are asked to delegate consideration of the objections to the Licensing Committee. If no public representations are made within that time then the proposals are adopted. Should any representations be made within that 14 day period then a report will be taken to the Licensing Committee within a two month window as prescribed in law.

The hackney carriage trade, have seen a significant rise in the cost of fuel, vehicle maintenance and insurance. A fare increase would go some way to alleviate the financial burden that is currently being absorbed by the Trade.

The last fare increase was approved over 10 years ago. In light of this the Hackney carriage proprietors have requested a fare increase and amendment to the structure of the hackney carriage fare table.

A previous fare report was brought to the Licensing Committee in 2018 on behalf of the Taxi trade; however this was seen as an excessive increase and rejected by the Committee.