Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber Arun Civic Centre Maltravers Road Littlehampton

Contact: Andrew Bishop 

Media

Items
No. Item

742.

Declarations of Interest

Members and Officers are reminded to make any declarations of pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests that they may have in relation to items on this agenda and are reminded that they should re-declare their interest before consideration of the item or as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

 

Members and officers should make their declaration by stating :

 

a) the item they have the interest in

b) whether it is a pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial

c) the nature of the interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made.

743.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 41 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 2022 and to note the Minutes from the meetings of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 9 January, 23 January, 30 January, 6 February and 20 February 2023.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 9 December 2022 were approved by the Committee and signed by the Chair. The Minutes of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 9 January 2022, 23 January 2023, 30 January 2023, 6 February 2023 and 20 February 2023 were noted by the Committee.

744.

Items not on the Agenda which the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency by reason of special circumstances

Minutes:

The Chair confirmed that there were no urgent items.

745.

Public Question Time

To receive questions from the public (for a period of up to 15 minutes).

Minutes:

The Chair confirmed that there had been no questions from the public submitted for this meeting.

746.

Taxi Fare Setting pdf icon PDF 109 KB

This report seeks the Committee’s approval of the table of fares, which ensure that a suitable maximum amount is set for charges to be made to the travelling public, with the increases for 2023/24 as advertised. The table of fares would come into effect on 1 April 2023.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Licensing Officer presented the report which sought the Committee’s agreement of the table of taxi fares [in Appendix 2 of the Officer report] following consultation, with increases for 2023/24 to come into effect from 1 April 2023, to ensure a balance between taxi drivers making a living and what customers would be willing to pay. It was noted that the emergency increase of 10p in the previous year (which many drivers had not taken advantage of due to the cost of recalibrating their meters) had not kept up with fuel prices and that, due to the cost of living increases, drivers also faced other increased costs associated with insurance and vehicle repairs. It was also remarked that since lockdown the number of taxi journeys had decreased as more things (such as shopping) were done online. The Licensing Officer then outlined some of the increases detailed in the report.

 

Members noted positively on the significant amount of feedback received during the consultation and thanked the Officers for their work on this item. Members recognised the difficulties for the public in raising fares and the increases in several costs for drivers, but appreciated that these were sensible increases following a thorough process ensuring things were done in a controlled way. Whether there was a need for fare charging distinctions between diesel, hybrid or electric vehicles to incentivise transition to greener vehicles was also raised. The Group Head of Technical Services explained that a transition of the fleet to electric vehicles was best managed through taxi policy via fees charged to operators. He noted that the taxi policy had recently been consulted on and once Officers had had the opportunity to go through all the responses to the consultation an amended taxi policy would come before the Committee. It was also confirmed that the increases would be communicated on the Council’s website. The Chair thanked the Officer team and concluded that the increases struck a good balance to ensure taxis remained in the District for the public to use. The recommendation was then proposed by Councillor Claydenand seconded by Councillor Blanchard-Cooper.

 

The Committee

 

RESOLVED

 

That the table of fares set out in Appendix 2 be agreed with effect from 1April 2023.

747.

Licensing Committee Performance Report Quarter 3 pdf icon PDF 96 KB

This report updates the Committee on the Q3 Performance Outturn for the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which make up the Corporate Plan, for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 December 2022.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair confirmed that the report was an information paper with no recommendations for the Committee to consider and was taken as read by Members. The Committee noted the report and commended Officers on their performance.