Agenda item

The Council’s current licensing policies for private hire and taxis were adopted in June 2021 following the formation of BCP Council. There are separate driver, vehicle and operator policies. Since they were implemented there have been changes in best practice guidance and the statutory standards issued by the Department of Transport have been updated.

Whilst there is no statutory requirement to undertake a review of the taxi policies, the current policy review date is 2025.

The focus of the policies is to protect and safeguard children and vulnerable adults, however all passengers will benefit from the standards required of our drivers and operators.

The vehicle policy aims to ensure licenced vehicles are kept maintained and safe so that they do not pose a risk to passengers or other road users.

The Licensing Manager presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Committee was advised that the Council’s current licensing policies for private hire and taxis were adopted in June 2021 following the formation of BCP Council and there were separate driver, vehicle and operator policies. Since implementation there had been changes in best practice guidance and the statutory standards issued by the Department of Transport had been updated. There was no statutory requirement to undertake a review of the taxi policies, however, the current policy review date was 2025.

The focus of the policies was to protect and safeguard children and vulnerable adults, however all passengers would benefit from the standards required of BCP drivers and operators. The vehicle policy aimed to ensure licenced vehicles were kept maintained and safe so that they did not pose a risk to passengers or other road users.

Workshops had taken place with members, officers and taxi trade representatives and proposed draft policies had been produced for review and agreement by the Licensing Committee. Once approved, the draft policies would be subject to 8 weeks public consultation. Consultation feedback and any proposed amendments would then be presented to the Licensing Committee in 2025 for consideration of the public responses to the consultation.

The Chair welcomed Mr David Lane, representing the Taxi Trade, to the meeting. Mr Lane read out a short statement thanking councillors and officers for their participation in the workshops and preparing the draft policies. Mr Lane asked that the Committee consider receiving an annual report on the level of complaints where vehicle owners/drivers had failed to accept bookings without good reason in relation to wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Finally, Mr Lane advised that once the policies were approved the taxi trade would be pleased to help promote them and urged all taxi users to use a vehicle licensed by BCP Council.

The Licensing Manager and Licensing Officer then led councillors through the amendments to the ‘Driver Policy’, as detailed in section 17 of the report.

Members discussed section 20.2 and 20.3 in detaill (new guidance and information regarding complaint handling and phased approach taken to enforcement). The Licensing Manager explained that all complaints were considered on their own merits and gave various examples of the different types of complaints received. The Licensing Manager explained that the revised policy had strengthened where operators should forward complaints to the Council and more stringent requirements had been set. All complaints were logged on a case management system and a driver’s history was taken into consideration.

The Licensing Manager advised that a document had been drafted to reflect how complaints were managed and that this could be circulated to committee members for consideration outside the meeting. The document could form part of the Driver Policy if committee members desired.

The Licensing Manager and Licensing Officer then led councillors through the amendments to the ‘Operator’s Policy’, as detailed in section 19 of the report. The Committee considered all amendments and no changes were made.

The Licensing Manager and Licensing Officer then led councillors through the amendments to the ‘Vehicle Policy’, as detailed in section 21, 22 and 23 of the report.

The Licensing Manger drew the Committee’s attention to section 16.1 of the proposed amendments, which was new wording to reflect ‘no unmet need’. It was suggested that the Council remove current quantity restrictions on the number of hackney carriage licences issued in the Poole and Bournemouth Zones. These restrictions historically prevented anyone from applying for a new hackney carriage licence within the zones. The Policy in 2021 released 15 new licences per year in each zone for wheelchair accessible vehicles only and at that time there was a significant waiting list for new licences in both Bournemouth and Poole.

Since 2021, of the 120 new licences made available, 21 new hackney carriages had been licenced and there was currently no waiting list. Everyone who had expressed interest in a new licence had been offered the opportunity but there had been a very low take up. A discussion ensured around wheelchair accessible vehicles. The Licensing Manger explained that currently, all new hackney carriage licences must be wheelchair accessible. Legislation only allowed Councils to dictate that hackney carriage vehicles must be wheelchair assessable.

The Committee felt that it would be beneficial to seek views in the public consultation of whether there was a need for a specific number of wheelchair accessible vehicles and that this should form part of the consultation.

The Committee was advised that the consultation process would commence in early 2025 and that the consultation questionnaire would be issued to councillors for their feedback in advance of it going live.

The Chair advised that he had received correspondence from Cllr Farquhar regarding CCTV in licenced vehicles. The Licensing Manager explained that current policy allowed driver discretion in this matter, it was not mandatory for vehicles to have CCTV installed. If it was made mandatory there would need to be a needs assessment to determine if there was a need for it and provide evidence to support it as there would be a cost to the taxi trade and an impact on licence holders. It was noted that it was the responsibility of the owner of the vehicle to ensure that CCTV was correctly registered with the Information Commissioners Officer (ICO). At the Committee’s request the Licensing Manager advised that the ‘Licensing Operational Policy’ would be updated to ensure that any licensed vehicle with CCTV installed had registered with the ICO.

RESOLVED that

1. the Committee agree the draft policies as presented;
2. the questions raised by the Committee be included in the consultation process;
3. the consultation document be emailed to Committee Members for feedback prior to the consultation document going live on the BCP website; and
4. the ‘Licensing Operational Policy’ would be updated to ensure that any licensed vehicle with CCTV installed had registered with the ICO.