To confirm the Minutes of the Licensing Applications Committee meeting held on 23 October 2019.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 23 October 2019 were confirmed as a correct.

A report providing the Committee with an outline of amendments and new initiatives to the Hackney Carriage Emissions and Age Policy as agreed by the Committee at its meeting on 23 October 2019, taking into consideration the request from the taxi trade to delay implementation of the Policy until 2023.

The Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report providing the Committee with an outline of the amendments and new initiatives to the Hackney Carriage Emission and Age Policy that had been adopted at the meeting on 23 October 2019.  A table setting out the Emission Standard compared to the age of the vehicle was attached to the report at Appendix 1. The Council had consulted with the Reading Taxi Association (RTA) and the Reading Cab Drivers Association (RCDA). The Council received representations from the RTA, the details of which were set out in Appendix 2.  Other local authorities had introduced similar policies to that proposed by the Council and a comparison of other local authority policies was detailed in Appendix 3.

The report explained that Reading Taxi Association (RTA) had requested a delay to the implementation of the Emissions and Age Policy due to the current challenging economic conditions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.  RTA reported that they were currently running at a loss of 70 to 75% of their work during the day and up to 95% after 10.00 pm, with only 50% of the fleet working currently.They were seeking financial reprieve until the pandemic was under control and explained that they could not afford to upgrade their vehicles.

The report set out the staged approach which vehicle licence holders had to adhere to that had been agreed at the October 2019 meeting,; if they didn’t adhere to the staged approach they would not be issued with a licence.  The Council had implemented incentives, which were set out in the report, to encourage the take up of Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV’s) and electric vehicles but, to date there was only one ULEV vehicle on the fleet.

The Council’s Environmental Protection and Nuisance Team, which dealt with air quality and emissions in the town, had commented on the Policy and reported air quality improvements since its introduction in October 2017.  Officers in the team were not in favour of any reduction or delay in the Policy, as this would impact on air quality, health and be contrary to local and national policy.  However, the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic had also been recognised and therefore a relaxation of the Policy for a short period with the view to reviewing it again, as set out in the report, had been recommended.  The taxi trade had also requested that all taxis up to and including EUTO 5a were given an extension of three years.  They had also requested the removal of the minimum of ten years new to fleet requirement for a period of a year.

The report explained that Environmental Protection and Nuisance officers had put alternative options together for consideration taking into account theRTA’s request(s) whilst still having a realistic target to improve air quality and adhere to existing strategies.  The options were as follows:

Option 1 – No change to the existing Hackney Carriage Vehicle Emissions and Age  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.