Agenda item

The report of Jo Hulbert and Danial Farr (Fleet Compliance Officers) and Tom Ince (Principal Compliance Officer) seeks to provide the Licensing Committee with the relevant information to make an informed decision on allowing the Taxi Licensing Team to undertake a consultation on proposed changes to Wiltshire Councils Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence Zoning arrangements.

Tom Ince referred to the report which sought to provide the Licensing Committee with the relevant information to make an informed decision on allowing the Taxi Licensing Team to undertake a consultation on proposed changes to Wiltshire Councils Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence Zoning arrangements and highlighted the following:

• Hackney carriage vehicles can pick up customers off of the ranks or pick up from the street.  Although Wiltshire Council has been a unitary authority since 2009, taxi licensing continues to operate in four separate zones.  Under the existing rules a hackney carriage driver can take a non pre-booked journey from Salisbury to Chippenham but they would be unable to take a non pre-booked passenger back to Salisbury;

• Officers were seeking approval from the Committee to consult with the trade on the proposal to implement a single licensing zone for hackney carriage vehicles across Wiltshire.  It was likely that some would view this as a positive and some as a negative but Officers wanted to get a feel for the changes proposed for Wiltshire;

• The Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, Section 50(1) currently dictates the Council must have vehicle inspection facilities available in each zone for which hackney carriages are licensed. There are currently 4 workshops but these are only utilised one day a week;

• Officers were seeking approval from the Committee to consult with the industry regarding the proposal to move the inspection workshop to one  central location with the preferred option to be to utilise the Kennet House depot at which the workshop had recently been refurbished and there being a safe area for to drivers to wait during the inspections;

Committee members asked the following:

·           Is the consultation open and not yet decided on what the outcome will be?  Tom Ince responded that the outcome was not yet decided and that another option could be to continue to carry out vehicle inspections in 2 zones, although it made more sense to centralise the provision to a single location, they were open to the feedback and where it might take them.  The inspection facilities at Parsonage Way depot in Chippenham were currently unavailable due to the site being used as a Covid testing side and as of January 2022, the inspection facilities in Riverway (Trowbridge) were also unavailable due to structural issues, an inoperable inspection ramp and vermin control which are causing health and safety concerns. This means that the service without inspection facilities within the North and West Zones and as such the Council could face legal challenge due to the current zoning requirements and they do have a legal obligation to provide the facility.

·           How often are the inspections and how many inspections would this be?  Tom Ince responded that vehicle inspections have to be carried out every six months.  This was for 750 licensed vehicles which meant there would be 1500 inspections a year.  If they moved to single zone inspections the workshops would be open 5 days a week, usually for the 4 zones each workshop is only open 1 day week and so they are being underutilised.  The equipment is old and needs regular maintenance/replacement and it would be more efficient to work out of one zone but the team wish to hear what the industry thinks about the plans.

·           Would you have a plan B to carry out an inspection if for any reason Kennet House was out of action as an inspection site? Tom Ince responded that in that instance they would look to utilise the Churchfields site as that would be the obvious site to retain.

·           What happens currently if a driver cannot get to their nearest inspection workshop on the day it is open?  Tom Ince responded that drivers were able to travel to another inspection workshop if they were not able to attend their local one.  Officers were interested to hear what the operators would have to say about this proposal.

·           When will we hear the outcome of the consultation?  Tom Ince responded that the intention was to report back the findings and recommendations following the consultation to the Licensing Committee meeting on 12 September 2022.

Resolved:

1.     That the Licensing Committee authorise the Taxi Licensing team to undertake a consultation with the industry in relation to implementing a single licensing zone for hackney carriages across Wiltshire. 

2.     That a report be bought back to the Licensing Committee outlining the results of the consultation at their meeting on 12 September 2022.