Apologies for absence were received from Councillors BA Durkin, RC Hunt, FM Norman and G Powell.

Councillor EMK Chave was appointed named substitute for Councillor FM Norman and Councillor RB Hamilton was appointed named substitute for Councillor RC Hunt.

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 21st February 2012.

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting held on 21^st February, 2012 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider objections to the proposed increases in fees and charges for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire licences.

A report was presented by the Acting Head of Environmental Protection and Licensing about objections which had been received from the trade to the proposed increase in hackney carriage/private hire licence fees and charges for 2012/2013.  He explained that the increases were aimed at full cost recovery so that the service was no longer subsidised. This was in line with a resolution previously made by Cabinet regarding all the services provided by the Council.  He outlined the approach used in calculating the fees and charges, the comparisons made with other councils and the advice that had been received from the accountants and external consultants.

The Acting Head of Environmental Protection and Licensing outlined the advertising process which had been followed regarding the proposals and consultation with the trade and public. He provided a summary of the responses which had been received. He said that the trade had also enquired about a taxi marshalling scheme whereby officers would queue and direct taxis to collect passengers leaving clubs in the Commercial Road area of Hereford. The cost of this was likely to be £52 per hackney carriage to be cost neutral to the council tax payer.  Although there had been a number of supportive comments for such a scheme, overall the consultation responses indicated that the trade were not prepared to cover its cost.  The Acting Head of Environmental Protection and Licensing was not therefore recommending the introduction of the Scheme. He also said that since the consultation process had started, revised corporate support service costs had become available which had enabled the original proposed fee increases to be significantly reduced but still enable full cost recovery.  He explained the options available to the Committee in considering the proposals.

The Chairman invited comments from the trade and allocated ten minutes per speaker.  Mr Jones, Mr Lane and Mr Preen spoke on behalf of the trade. The trade were very unhappy about the level of the proposed increases in a difficult financial climate for them. They contested a number of aspects and in particular the calculations involved. They did not feel these accurately reflected the number of licences issued by the Council and the revenue it obtained from them.  Their main areas of complaint were:

·         too many taxi licences and this is a way to put people out of business;

·         there are 250 taxis but only 30 rank spaces for them;

·         the representatives did not feel that all the points that they had made as part of the consultation process were properly reflected in the report;

·         the proposed increases seem exceedingly high; more information needed to be provided about how the costs were arrived at;

·         the increases were excessive given the fuel and operational costs facing the trade;

·         the headline figures had been provided in the report but not the detail by way of a spread sheet mentioned by the officer;

·         fees should be reduced during a time of recession  to help a vital service to the public;

·         there should be greater  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

To note that the next meeting is at on Tuesday 8th May, 2012 at 2:00 pm.