Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bellamy, Dean Collins, Lisa Collins, Peter Innes and Niblock.

The Licensing Manager submitted a report for Members to consider proposed amendments to the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, in respect of non-Chesterfield hackney carriages being used as private hire vehicles within the controlled district of Chesterfield Borough Council together with subsequent changes to the requirements for new drivers and a trade proposal to defer Driving Standards Agency (DSA) driving tests, and of training in child sexual exploitation (CSE).

The proposed amendments aimed to safeguard public safety while balancing the requirements for Chesterfield drivers against those from other authorities.

The report set out the background to the proposed amendments arising from a challenge to the Council’s existing policy of only allowing operators licensed by Chesterfield Borough Council to use drivers and vehicles licensed by the Council. This challenge had resulted in non-Chesterfield hackney carriages being able to operate as private hire vehicles within the controlled area of Chesterfield Borough Council. The Council had no enforcement powers over such non-Chesterfield vehicles and drivers unless a criminal offence was committed. It was noted that this was an issue for licensing authorities nationally.

Some private hire operators had argued that the more stringent requirements to be met by applicants for a combined hackney carriage and private hire driving licence in Chesterfield forced them to recruit drivers licensed by other authorities.

Most of the non-Chesterfield hackney carriages were licensed by Rossendale Borough Council, which had now introduced an ‘Intended use Policy’ requiring applicants for a new hackney carriage vehicle licence to use the vehicle predominantly in the Borough of Rossendale and to be resident within 30 miles of the council boundary. Chesterfield Council officers had developed an information sharing system with their Rossendale colleagues where there was clear evidence of a hackney carriage working predominantly outside Rossendale to enable Rossendale to consider revoking the licence.

These issues had been the subject of consultation through the Taxi Consultative Committee and with local private hire operators, and the report set out a number of options to address this, including:

·         A voluntary code of conduct for private hire operators to take responsibility for the behaviour of non-Chesterfield hackney carriage drivers while working locally on a private hire basis (attached as Appendix A to the report);

·        Having separate private hire and hackney carriage driving licences, with a simplified practical test of geographical knowledge but not a written geography test for private hire drivers. Private hire drivers would then only be eligible to drive private hire vehicles, not hackney carriages. The application process for hackney carriage drivers would remain the same and a hackney carriage licence would allow the holder to drive both hackney carriages and private hire vehicles.

Ms M Shaw, proprietor of Shaws Taxis and Chairperson of Chesterfield Hackney Owners Association, addressed the meeting in respect of delays experienced in arranging DSA tests, as required for Chesterfield applicants, which she felt was contributing to operators looking to recruit non-Chesterfield hackney drivers. She had proposed that provision be made to issue a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.