Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted by Councillor Mason Humberstone.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 14 December 2023.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 14 December 2023 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To review the current hackney carriage fares/tariffs.

The Acting Licensing Manager presented a report advising the Committee that the fixing of fares for hackney carriages within the Borough was governed by the Council by virtue of section 65 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. This must be published by means of a tariff table. The last change in fares took effect on 2 August 2023, and a copy of the current tariff table was attached as Appendix 1 to the report.

The Licensing Officer reminded Members that the Committee, at is meeting held on 14 March 2022, had resolved that there should be an annual review of taxi tariffs.

The Acting Licensing Manager stated that the Licensing Authority had undertaken preliminary consultation with the trade (all hackney carriage and private hire drivers and operators) to ascertain options to include in the consultation. A summary of the results of the preliminary engagement survey was set out in Appendix 2 to the report.

The Acting Licensing Manager explained that the three options agreed for the final consultation had been publicised via a Public Notice that was advertised in the local press on 05 and 12 September 2024, and a copy made available for inspection at the Council offices for the same period in accordance with the legislation. In addition, all licensed drivers and licensed private hire operators in the Council’s area were contacted via e-mail or letter advising them of the review consultation.

The Acting Licensing Manager advised that the public notices required any comments or option preferences to be made in writing or through completion of a survey. Comments/option preferences had been received from 32 persons. 30 dual licensed drivers (16 as Hackney Carriage Drivers and 14 as Private Hire Drivers), and 2 Private Hire Operators. No responses were received from members of the public. A summary of the consultation survey response was attached as Appendix 6 to the report.

The Acting Licensing Manager commented that Option 1 was to increase the mileage only; Option 2 was to increase the start price and the mileage; and Option 3 was no change to the tariffs. The survey responses to each of these options was set out in the report.

The Acting Licensing Manager invited the Committee to review the proposed tariff change options and apply their preferred option effective from 21 October 2024, or from a nominated date not more than 2 months following the 21 October 2024.

The Committee asked a number of questions, which were answered as follows:

·         There were currently 287 Dual Licensed Drivers licensed by Stevenage Borough Council;

·         There were more responses, from the trade, to the Preliminary Engagement survey than the public consultation. A questionnaire was sent out to all private hire, Hackney drivers, and operators to get a feel of where they wanted things to go with regards to the fares. Those responses gave us the information to put forward the three options that went through to consultation for the review;

·         The consultation was in two editions of the Comet, on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To consider any Part I business accepted by the Chair as urgent.

There was none.

To consider the following motions –

1. That under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in Paragraphs 1 – 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act as amended by Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

2. That Members consider the reasons for the following reports being in Part II and determine whether or not maintaining the exemption from disclosure of the information contained therein outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Not required.

To consider any Part II business accepted by the Chair as urgent.

There was none.