Agenda item

To receive and consider the Taxi Licensing Fees and Charges 2020/21 report.

Ed Shaylor explained that this report was the result of a request by the Committee at its previous meeting, to review and reduce the fees for taxi and school transport operators for the current financial year (2022/23) and arrange refunds for the year 2021/22.

The report contained information about the proposal, which reduced the fee to £248 instead of £290.  The background was that two years ago drivers were given a £40 reduction in fees in recognition of the difficulties brought by the coronavirus pandemic.  In 2021/22 the reduction disappeared and the fee went back up to £290 plus a £2 inflation increase.

This Committee made a recommendation that the fees this year should be the reduced fee of £248 and this had been incorporated in the fees for 2022/23.

The report outlined the option of applying for a supplementary estimate to refund the drivers to give the reduced fee to those who paid the higher fee in 2021/22, as this had not been budgeted for.  This equated to a refund of £42 to 211 drivers (around £8,500).  This recommendation was subject to an Executive decision.

The report also outlined the practical difficulties in implementing this proposal. 

The Committee was asked to consider if it wished to be consulted on fees and charges each year in respect to the following financial year before it went to Executive and Council.

Councillor Younis strongly believed that the proposal should be submitted to Executive for approval and he added that £8,500 was not a significant amount in the context of the Council.  He added that this was a matter of principle.

Councillor Burgess agreed with Councillor Younis.  She added that a proposal had been made by this Committee and it had not gone through the proper governance decision making process, which was not acceptable. 

Councillor Burgess suggested that, in order to facilitate the administration of this proposal, the drivers that are still active be credited the £40 into their accounts, that would reduce the number of drivers that would have to be manually refunded.

Councillor Kerr agreed that drivers should receive the refund.  She wished to emphasise that this situation, where the Committee’s recommendations had not been taken to the correct decision-making process was not satisfactory.  She added that if Legal advisors had been present at meetings, this situation could potentially have been avoided.  She asked that Legal advisors be present at all meetings of this Committee going forward.

Councillor Kerr explained that this issue had only been picked up when the Committee had looked at the minutes of the previous meeting.  She suggested that an action tracker of recommendations be produced to ensure that the Committee’s recommendations are acted upon.

Councillor Bowring agreed that it was right to give the refund to drivers.  He asked if it was possible to recoup the £8,500 from the 2023/24 budget.

Councillor Dennis suggested that if and when the Executive decided not to implement this Committee’s recommendations, that an explanation be given for the reasons.

In response to a question, Ed Shaylor explained that this subsidy was for this financial year, and this year’s budget did not include this refund.  Therefore, a supplementary estimate had to be agreed by the Executive.  A further complication was that licensable activities were supposed to be undertaken on a cost recovery basis, one activity could not subsidise another (it was not legal to recoup in the next financial year).

Ed Shaylor reassured Members that Officers would try to expediate this operation and give the refund back to drivers as soon as possible.

The Chairman asked to be kept informed about the process.

RESOLVED That:

1)     The Committee notes that the reduced fees for taxi licences have been applied in 2022/23 as resolved by this Committee;

2)     This Committee recommends Executive to apply the reduction relating to licence fees charged in 2021/22 and arrange refunds to applicants who paid the higher fees;

3)     There will be a standing item of approval of fees and charges each year in respect to the following financial year before it goes to Executive and Council;

4)     There will be Legal representation at all meetings of the Licensing and Appeals Committee; and

5)     There will be tracker of recommendations as a standing item in the agenda.