Test Valley Borough Council Licensing Committee Meeting

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Neal, L Lashbrook, P Lashbrook, Burnage and Dunleavey.

There was no public participation.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no urgent items for consideration.

Councillor Andersen proposed and Councillor Cattell seconded the motion that the minutes of the previous meeting were an accurate record.  Upon being put to the vote, the motion was carried.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the Licensing Committee held on 30 May 2024 be approved and signed as a correct record.

The Chairman briefed members that in July 2020 the Department for Transport requested that all local authorities should adopt new standards for taxi licensing.  In September 2021 the Committee agreed to go out to consultation on some of the proposals, which was carried out during 2022 and in 2023 the results were presented back to committee, and it was agreed to carry out further work looking at hackney licenses and the proposed Driver Code of Conduct.

The Licensing Manager referred to the report which was presented in November 2023 where the Committee agreed that the results of the consultation undertaken in 2022 should form the basis of a new Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy. However, there was one area where the consultation response was unclear; this was in relation to the policy for issuing of new hackney carriage licences where the current policy is to restrict the number of licences issued and only allow new licences for wheelchair accessible vehicles. Officers were requested to undertake additional targeted consultation on this particular issue.

Whilst the overall response rate was low, a majority indicated that they were supportive of the council only issuing new licences for vehicles that could be used by ambulant disabled persons and it highlighted that there was an overall agreement for the adoption of the Driver Code of Conduct, subject to some amendments to address concerns around specific aspects.

The following recommendations were proposed by Councillor Buzynski and seconded by Councillor Matthews.  Upon being put to the vote the motion was agreed unanimously.

Resolved:

1.  That the outcomes from the additional public consultation on the proposed new Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy, set out in Annexes 1, 2 and 3 to the report, be noted.

2.  That the new Taxi and Private Hire Licensing Policy, set out in Annex 4 to the report, be approved effective from 1 January 2025.

Recommended to Cabinet:

3.  That a fee for resitting a failed driver knowledge test for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing be introduced and set at £30 for each subsequent resit.

4.  That a fee for the provision of approved door signs for Hackney Carriage and Private Hire licensing be introduced and set at £6 per sign.