Fees for taxi licences are going up The fee, which stood at £76 per licence, will now rise to £142
TAXI firms will be paying almost double to obtain permission to operate after changes in legislation forced Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council to alter its licensing policy.
The authority had issued and renewed hackney carriage and private hire licences annually but a new Act of Parliament means a three year licence is now the norm.
At a meeting last week the move was agreed on a majority vote.
The fee, which stood at £76 per licence, will now rise to £142 - which is nearly double the original cost but does cover drivers for three years rather than one.
Overall it means the authority will suffer a loss of income between 2015/16 and 2020/21 of £23,556.
Full council members were told: “In accordance with European Union Services Directive and any licensing case law the service is not allowed to make a surplus but reasonable costs can be recovered.
“The estimated cost for issuing a licence is £142. The estimated cost of running the new process will depend on the number of licences becoming due for renewal each year.”
Currently the council obtains £14,136 in fees per year for the renewal of 186 licences.
While there will be an increase in fee levels up until 2016/17 because of the new three year format no renewals will take place in 2017/18 resulting in no fees.
As the new Act became law in October officers had worked to review the taxi licensing costs and looked in detail at the administration aspects of driver licensing.
This included a more accurate calculation of the percentage of officers, managers and support staffs time spent on taxi licensing.
Councillors were told: “It is considered necessary there to increase licence fees with immediate effect so as to ensure, as far as can be reasonably anticipated, that the total fee income will more accurately reflect the cost of the taxi licensing service and to look for full cost recovery.”
source:
http://www.hinckleytimes.net/news/local ... p-10463161
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