Agenda and draft minutes

Any apologies for absence that have been received will be noted at this point.

Apologies were received from Cllr Johnson and Cllr Potter.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the General Licensing Committee meetings held on 3 July 2024 and 20 August 2024.

The minutes from General Licensing Committee meetings held on Wednesday 3 July and Tuesday 20 August 2024 were approved.

The Chairman will announce any urgent items that due to special circumstances are to be dealt with under the agenda item below relating to Late Items.

There were no Urgent Items.

Details of members’ personal interests arising from their membership of parish councils or West Sussex County Council or from their being Chichester District Council or West Sussex County Council appointees to outside organisations or members of outside bodies or from being employees of such organisations or bodies.

Such interests are hereby disclosed by each member in respect of agenda items where the Council or outside body concerned has been consulted in respect of that particular item or application.

Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are to be made by members of the Committee in respect of matters on the agenda or this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

Questions submitted by members of the public in writing by noon on the previous working day (for a period of up to 15 minutes).

There were no Public Questions.

Recommendation: That the General Licensing Committee considers and approves the proposed amendments and increases in the local Table of Fares (the ‘tariff’) as shown at Appendix B.  This will take effect unless objections are received in response to a public consultation.

Mr Knowles-Ley introduced his report. He explained that Chichester District Council is empowered by way of a ‘Table of Fares’ to set the maximum fees and charges that the public may be charged when hiring and travelling in a hackney carriage vehicle. All operators of Taxis licensed by this Council must charge no more than the set tariff for a journey, however it is permissible to charge a customer less should an operator determine to do so.  The overriding objective is to set these at a reasonable and fair amount for both the operators of hackney carriages and the passengers who use them. The current tariff came into effect on 4 November 2022, and since then, the rate of inflation for the following two financial years has remained high. The average national charge for a two-mile journey on Tariff 1 is currently £7.18, with the new proposed charge for the Chichester district being £7.90. He added that there will also be direct consultation with all existing holders of a hackney carriage vehicle or driver’s licence.

Cllr O’Kelly asked how evening fares are administered nationally and questioned whether it would be beneficial to bring hackney carriage tariff fares to committee annually. Cllr O’Kelly commented that evening fares are appropriate due to their unsocial hours and the fact that evening journeys are more likely to be non-essential or recreational.

Cllr Apel questioned if the rates in question were applicable to Uber taxis.

Cllr Chant questioned if journeys that cross over into other districts and boroughs are still covered by fares imposed by Chichester District Council.

Cllr Weller questioned the extra rates imposed for carrying more than one passenger.

Mr Knowles-Ley explained that councils set and design their own tariffs, so it is hard to comment on national discussion, but that he is aware that Transport for London do implement an evening rate. He stated that he is happy to review hackney carriage fares annually, but highlighted that this would come with cost implications in terms of officer and committee time, publishing a notice etc. He informed the panel that the number of hackney carriage vehicles had decreased in previous years, with just 24 currently in use. He confirmed that private hire operators were permitted to set their own fees and charges,  and that the various tariffs being considered by committee would only apply to hackney carriage vehicles. He added that while fuel prices have come down, it is important to consider the unpredictability of how they could fluctuate in upcoming months and years, thus affecting fares. He clarified that where a journey starts in a hackney carriage vehicle licensed by Chichester District Council, it will be covered by the fares imposed by this Council, even if the vehicle crosses into another district. He advised the panel that drivers can charge an optional fee of no more than 30p per passenger to cover a potential increase in fuel used. .

Cllr Ballantyne commented on how fuel prices have driven up trade prices in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 101.

(a)  Items added to the agenda papers and made available for public inspection;

(b)  Items which the chairman has agreed should be taken as matters of urgency by reason of special circumstances to be reported at the meeting.

There were no Late Items.

Part 2

(Items for which the press and public are/may be excluded)

That in accordance with section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (the Act) the public and the press be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following item on the agenda for the reason that it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted that there would be disclosure to the public of “exempt information” being information of the nature described in Paragraph 1 (information relating to any individual) of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

There are no restricted items for consideration by the General Licensing Committee at this meeting.

There were no Part 2 items.

To note the date of the next General Licensing meeting as 5 March 2025 at 9.30am in East Pallant House Committee Rooms.

The Panel noted the date of the next meeting as Wednesday 5 March 2025.