Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 12 October 2021

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 October 2021 were agreed as a true record.

There were no outstanding issues.

Report of the Director Streetscene & Regulatory Services

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services which detailed the outcome of a fee review which had been undertaken on 25 June 2019 to address the charges made for the processing and issuing of licences to drivers and operators to reflect the changes and associated costs.

The review resulted in an increase of Driver, Vehicle and Operator fees to reflect the reduction in administrative staff and the new role to provide support across the service.

Following this a further review of fees had been undertaken to reflect staffing, the number of licences issued and current costs.

The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 provides that the City Council may charge as fees the reasonable cost of administering and enforcing the hackney carriage and private hire licensing function. The fees charged by the Taxi Licensing Office are intended to enable the service to operate on a self-financingbasis.

A review of fees was carried out in 2019 and before that in 2015, which involved assessing the resources used for each activity represented by a fee. Any increased costs to taxi licensing since 2019 have been managed within availableresources.

The proposed fee changes were attached as appended A to the report.

RESOLVED that the Licensing Committee:

(a)  Approve, subject to consideration of any comments received, the proposed fee changes detailed in AppendixA

(b)  Authorise the Director of Streetscene & Regulatory Services to make the necessary arrangements to advertise the applicable proposed feevariations

(c)  Note that if any formal objections are received in response to the statutory notice that a further report will be presented on the 25 January 2022. Together with the 28-day consultation running alongside sent to the trade and other stakeholders via a survey.

There were no other items of business.