Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced the other members of the Committee.

A Vice-Chair was not required on this occasion at the Committee.

Councillors Grant Johnson and Karen Warrington had sent their apologies to the Committee.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

There were none.

The Committee approved these minutes as a correct record.

This report requests Members to consider the outcome of the Hackney Carriage Unmet Demand Survey (the Survey) carried out by independent consultants in 2020 and, if necessary, make recommendations on the findings to the Cabinet Member.

The Team Manager for Licensing and Environmental Protection introduced this report to the Committee. She explained that the Council currently regulates the number of Hackney Carriage Proprietor Licences (HCPLs) in the city of Bath and that because of this the Council is under a duty to carry out a review of any significant unmet demand every three years.

She stated that currently Hackney Carriages are restricted by zone and numbers within the authority. She informed the Committee that there are two zones which were set up at the time of local government reorganisation in 1996 - Zone 1 has the same boundaries as the former Bath City Council and Zone 2 has the same boundaries as the former Wansdyke District Council (now referred to as North East Somerset).

She said that there is no restriction on the number of Hackney Carriages in Zone 2 and that following the previous survey of unmet demand in 2017 the

approved number of licences in Zone 1 (Bath) remained at 125.

She explained that the 2020 survey was undertaken to see if there was any significant demand that was unmet within Bath. She said that the survey was carried out prior to the lockdown in March 2020 and included over 250 hours of rank observation, pedestrian surveys and consultation with licensed vehicle drivers and stakeholders.

She invited Ian Millership, consultant of the survey report to give a presentation on his findings to the Committee, a summary of which is set out below.

Bath and North East Somerset Council Taxi Unmet Demand Survey

Aim of this survey

·  Identify any significant unmet demand (or otherwise)

·  Provide committee evidence of current position regarding unmet demand and its significance at this point in time

·  N.B. All evidence collected in advance of the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic apart from key stakeholder consultation which was not practicable. Driver returns obtained during pandemic but with request (complied with) for detail for similar time to rank work.

Study timetable

·  Undertaken February to mid-March 2020

·  Rank observations early February 2020

·  On street interviews very early March 2020

·  All driver survey mid-March to mid- April 2020

·  Key stakeholders consulted but no responses

Definitions

·  HCV - Hackney Carriage Vehicles – Vehicles that can be taken from a rank, hailed or booked

·  PHV - Private Hire Vehicles – Vehicles that can only be booked, many now use apps allowing much more immediate booking often based on proximity of vehicle

·  WAV - Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles - Vehicles that can carry a passenger travelling in their wheelchair – a range of types but all have to be approved locally.

·  Unmet demand – Someone arrives at a rank and there is no hackney carriage that could be available for immediate hire - excludes waiting for vehicle to move up to front of rank

·  Private Ranks - Ranks on private land often with extra controls from land owner or its tenant or agents

·  Significant unmet demand (patent demand) - Unmet demand at a level whereby its reduction can only  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.