Agenda item

Report of the Licensing Manager.

The Licensing Manager introduced a report to enable Members to consider the level of fees for 2011/12.

The committee were advised that the report was concerned with the setting of the licence fees for hackney carriage and private hire licences and miscellaneous licences issued by the Council. Members were reminded that licences issued under the Licensing Act 2003, together with the licences issued under the Gambling Act 2005 fall within the remit of the Licensing Act Committee and not this Committee. For the purpose of 2010/2011 budgetary process the Committee had approved an increase for the hackney carriage vehicle licence fee for 2010/11 from £215.00 to £308.60 to cover the additional costs of the Hackney Carriage Demand Survey, the Committee had been satisfied that there should be no further increase in licence fees for hackney carriages and private hire licences and for miscellaneous licences. There had been no increases in fees for the above categories since April 2007.

Members were reminded that it had for many years been the policy of the Council for the licensing service to be self-financing. The annual revision of fees sought to ensure that the costs of the service would be met from the income. However, it was not lawful for the Council to seek to make a profit from licence fees that are within its discretion.

It was advised that following a financial assessment of time allocations for licensing staff, internal departmental re-charges together with other costs borne by the licensing service over the past year, the current fees charged for hackney carriages and private hire vehicle licensing and miscellaneous licensing had been reviewed. As a result of this exercise, it had been established that substantially more officer time was being spent on hackney carriage and private hire licensing than was the case twelve months ago, and, taking this into account, the budgeted cost of hackney carriage and private hire licensing for 2011/12 would be £226,300, and £14,900 for miscellaneous licensing.

Members were advised that it was impossible to estimate with any degree of certainty the amount of income from licence fees, given that some licence holders may decide not to renew their licence, and there may or may not be a number of new applications for licences. However, on the basis of the best possible estimate of numbers of licences that would be issued in 2011/12, it was estimated that, if the fees remained at the same levels as in 2010/11, income from hackney carriage and private hire licensing would be £159,000 and £13,600 for miscellaneous licensing.

Officers considered that it was necessary to increase the hackney carriage and private hire licensing fees but not necessary to increase the fees for miscellaneous licences.

With regard to miscellaneous licensing, this meant that there will be a budgeted deficit of £1,300, but it was felt that this properly reflected the work undertaken in respect of licences where a fee would not be recovered.

For Members’ information, details of the above two categories of fees were appended to the report.

Officers recommended that an increase of 10% be applied across the fees for hackney carriage and private hire licensing, with an exception being made for private hire operators licence fees. Officers recommended that the increase was only applied to large operators with 26 or more vehicles. Based on the disproportionate amount of time that officers had spent dealing with vehicle licensing this would still leave a shortfall of £51,400. It was also recommended that this be closely monitored throughout 2011/2012, and advised that should the trend continue a further increase would be required in 2012/2013.

It was also recommended that the issuing of a dual badge for private hire and hackney carriage drivers be approved, with the fee being set at £85.

Members were advised that the cost for a private hire and hackney carriage plate had been reduced to £6, this was to reflect the reduced cost of the materials since the introduction of the new plates in June. In addition the fee of £6 each for the door signs had been added to the table of fees, as these had previously been supplied by an external supplier direct to the proprietors, with proprietors paying the supplier.

Members discussed the options in detail, and asked questions of the Licensing Manager.

It was proposed by Councillor Wade and seconded by Councillor Day:

"(1)             That the proposed changes for the hackney carriage vehicle and driver licences and the private hire vehicle, driver and operator licences for 2011/2012 be approved as set out in Appendix C to the report, and that the Head of Governance be authorised to advertise the proposed increases for vehicle and operator licences in accordance with the statutory requirement.

(2)               That no changes be made to the fees for miscellaneous licences.”

Upon being put to the vote 4 Members voted in favour of the proposal, and 3 Members voted against, whereupon the Chairman declared the proposition to be carried.

Resolved:

(1)               That the proposed changes for the hackney carriage vehicle and driver licences and the private hire vehicle, driver and operator licences for 2011/2012 be approved as set out in Appendix C to the report, and that the Head of Governance be authorised to advertise the proposed increases for vehicle and operator licences in accordance with the statutory requirement.

(2)               That no changes be made to the fees for miscellaneous licences.