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Lewes and Eastbourne
Councils

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Town Hall, Eastbourne

Contact: Simon Russell on 01323 415021  Email:  simon.russell@eastbourne.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

4.

Minutes of the meeting held on 13 January 2014.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 January 2014 were submitted and approved and the Chairman was authorised to sign them as a correct record.

Councillor Warner advised the Committee that the issue raised at the last meeting about the historic fees levelled on hackney carriage drivers was scheduled to go to the Scrutiny Committee on the 2 June 2014.

5.

Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPIs) by members as required under Section 31 of the Localism Act and of other interests as required by the Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

None were received.

6.

Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Fee Amendment. pdf icon PDF 64 KB

Report of Senior Specialist Advisor.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Senior Specialist Advisor in relation to the schedule of proposed amendments to the hackney carriage and private hire licensing fees, that was considered by the General Licensing Committee on 13 January 2014 and the representations received during the consultation period.

 

The Council’s hackney carriage and private hire licensing function were self-financing. The fees were levied and reviewed in consultation with Financial Management to ensure that there was neither a surplus nor deficit in the hackney carriage and private hire account.

The Committee at its meeting on the 13 January 2014 agreed to consult on proposals to amend the hackney carriage and private hire licensing fees. The proposed amendments were detailed in the report at Section 3.5 and Figure 1. In accordance with the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, representations received from either the trade or members of the public must be considered by the Committee.

A public notice was placed in the Eastbourne Gazette on 28 January 2014 inviting representations up until the 3 March 2014, which exceeded the statutory minimum. Notices were also placed at the Town Hall, 1 Grove Road and a public consultation had been set up on the Council’s website.

A total of 960 letters were sent to members of the trade, which included drivers, proprietors and operators. This ensured that all members of the trade were included in the consultation process. The Senior Specialist Advisor reported that 50 responses had been received from the trade and these were included at Appendix 3 to the report.

Trade members were invited to respond to the following questions:-

  1. Do you agree with the proposed vehicle licence fee amendment that would charge hackney carriage and private hire proprietors the same fee? (Yes/No – Give reasons)
  2. Do you agree with one dual driver’s licence fee? (Yes/No – Give reasons)
  3. Do you agree with the proposed private hire operator fee amendments and structure? (Yes/No – Give reasons)
  4. Any further comments in relation to the proposed fee amendments.

The Senior Specialist Advisor reported that 80% of responses agreed with question one, while 20% disagreed, detailed in the report at Figure 2. 88% of responses agreed to question two while 12% disagreed, detailed in the report at Figure 3. 88% of responses agreed with question three while 10% disagreed and 2% abstained, detailed in the report at Figure 4.

Taking the representations into account, the options open to the Committee were to adopt the proposed fee changes or adopt an amended version of the proposals. It was not recommended to allow the fees to remain at their current level and form as the current level of fees charged would not cover the cost of the function on an ongoing basic. It was recommended that that any new proposals come into force from 1 April 2014, so as to accord with the new financial year. The Committee was advised that the latest the fees could be implemented to avoid repeating the whole process would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.