Mr John Littlemore, the Head of Housing and Community Services presented a report which set out the results of a 12 week consultation with stakeholders on three options for Hackney Carriage vehicle licences which were:-

1.  Maintain the current limit on Hackney Carriage numbers; or

2.  Issue any number of additional vehicle licences as appropriate; or

3.  Remove the limit on Hackney Carriage numbers

The Committee noted that the survey had had 474 responses (which included 120 taxi drivers or representatives of taxi businesses).  59% of respondents indicated that 48 hackney carriage vehicles was about right.

In response to questions from Members, Mr Littlemore stated that:-

·  the Committee had requested at its meeting on 1^st December 2016 that a 12 week consultation be undertaken on the three options for Hackney Carriage vehicle licences with a view to a report back to the Committee at the earliest opportunity.  He also advised that an Unmet Demand Survey was due to be undertaken in July 2019 that would highlight significant unmet demand should there be any.

·  in terms of a modal shift for transport, there was a move to electric and hybrid vehicles and consideration of more taxi provision being allowed into the town centre, rather than vehicles coming into park in the town centre.

·  the Council do not have the necessary powers to stop taxis from other districts coming into the town centre.  Any enforcement issues would have had to be reported to the authority from where the licence was issued.

·  if hackney carriage vehicles were to operate in the town that are not licensed by this authority then they are required to operate as a private hire vehicle, not a hackney carriage vehicle.

RESOLVED:  That the results of the Hackney Carriage Licence Survey on Deregulation be noted.