Issue - meetings

The Committee received a report from the Licensing & Enforcement Manager regarding the setting of fees for Taxi Plate Transfers.

In response to member’s questions the Licensing & Enforcement Manager said the following:

i.                 The fee charged for processing licence applications should be cost-neutral and not make a surplus nor subside those licensed. Working by this process the Council may minimise the risk of legal challenge.

ii.               Fewer than 10 Taxi Plate Transfers have been processed since April 2014.

iii.             121 Taxi Plates were in place before the City Council made a decision to remove the restriction. Whilst these plates are transferable, any plates above this 121 are not.

iv.             All fees were set after a full assessment of the time and work involved to process the applications. This was a complicated calculation and covered costs such as officer time/salary, creation of plates and Manager/Head of Services input.

v.              Whilst all fees were reviewed annually the costs involved could vary during the course of a year. 

vi.             The Committee had recently looked at fees for the boarding of pet animals. This was not a full review of costs but simply introduced a separate fee for home boarding that met certain criteria.

vii.           On the back of concerns raised by the taxi trade regarding fees charged by other authorities, the Committee had also asked officers to look at fees for plate transfers.

viii.         The fee setting process was reviewed and agreed in October 2013. If the Committee were now minded to look again at the process there would be a cost involved that was not recoverable from fees.

The Chair agreed with concerns raised by the Committee regarding the base rate criteria for fee setting but suggested that it needed a wider Council approach. 

The Committee:

Resolved (by 10 votes to 1) to:

       i.          Agree that the fees set by the Committee in January 2014 for taxi plate transfers should be reviewed in advance of other licence fees.

     ii.          Approve a revised fee of £50 following the statutory consultation period.