Agenda item

As the relevant licensing authority, Surrey Heath Borough Council was responsible for the licensing of taxis and private hire drivers, vehicles and operators. The Local Government( Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (the Act) included provisions that allowed district and borough councils to recover such fees as they consider reasonable with a view to recovering the costs of the issuing and administration of drivers’ licences for both taxis and private hire vehicles (Section53(2) ). Furthermore, Section 70 of the Act allowed the same for vehicle and operators’ licences.

‘A district [or borough] council may charge such fees for the grant of vehicle and operator licences sufficient in the aggregate to cover in whole or in part –

• The reasonable cost of carrying out by or on behalf of the district council of inspections of hackney carriages and private hire vehicles for the purpose of determining whether any such licence should be granted or renewed

• The reasonable cost of providing hackney carriage stands, and

• Any reasonable administrative or other costs in connection with the

foregoing and with the control and supervision of hackney carriages and private hire vehicles.’

The Committee were updated that following dialogue between Officers and the Chairman, a revised recommendation was proposed in order for the fees for operators’ licences for 1 Vehicle for 5 years, and operators’ licences for more than 1 vehicle for 5 years to remain unchanged, until further review was undertaken by the Head of HR, Performance and Communication to identify the costs of the administration of the licences to the Council. It was clarified that the rest of the proposed licence fees remained unchanged from those detailed in the agenda report.

It was noted that following the agreement of the Committee of the proposed fees, the Head of Human Resources, Communications & Performance would be asked to approve, in consultation with the Portfolio holder and Strategic Director, Finance and Customer Service, the fees. A notice detailing the proposed fees would then be placed for the statutory 28 days notice period and if no objections were received or where objections were made but subsequently withdrawn the new table of fees could come into effect from 1 April 2022.

RESOLVED that

     i.        the contents of the report be noted, and

    ii.        the proposed revised fees and charges for the Taxi and PH trade be recommended for approval by the Head of HR, Performance and Communication in consultation with the Strategic Director- Finance and the Finance Portfolio Holder, subject to the 28 day notice period, as per the agenda report; and

  iii.        the fees for PH Operators Licences - 1 Vehicle (5 years), and PH Operators Licences - more than 1 vehicle (5 years) remain unchanged but that the Head of HR, Performance and Communication be requested to further review these charges once further information on the costs were known.