Agenda item

To consider a report by the Head of Planning and Public Protection (copy enclosed) presenting the Council’s draft response to the Welsh Government’s consultation on improving public transport.

RESOLVED that members –

(a)       note and support the contents of the report and the proposed response, and

(b)       subject to members’ views, authorise the Head of Planning and Public Protection to present the final draft as the response to the Welsh Government consultation on Improving Public Transport, in so far as it relates to taxi and private hire licensing.

The Public Protection Business Manager submitted a report (previous circulated) presenting the Council’s draft response to the Welsh Government’s consultation on improving public transport.

Members were advised of the Welsh Government’s White Paper on proposals to legislate for reforming the planning and delivery of local bus services and licensing of taxis and private hire vehicles in Wales.  The report considered the taxi and private hire aspect only and officers had drafted a response to the questions posed by the Welsh Government for members’ consideration.  The response was intended to inform a Cabinet Briefing to enable a collated response on all aspects of the consultation prior to submission of the formal response by the deadline of 27 March 2019.  Four main areas of taxi and private hire licensing had been highlighted for consideration which included proposals to set national standards; allow a licensing authority to take enforcement action against any vehicle operating in its area; the creation of a mechanism for sharing relevant information for safeguarding purposes, and proposals to redirect taxi and private hire licensing functions into a national licensing authority – a Joint Transport Authority (JTA).

Members discussed the implications of the proposals with officers and it was confirmed that the Licensing Technical Panel (representing all Welsh local authorities) had agreed a collective response with each local authority having the option of including additional comments tailored to their specific localities as appropriate.  Officers also reported upon the scope of the consultation to inform Cabinet Briefing and Councillor Brian Jones confirmed that the North Wales Transport Advisory Forum had also considered the proposals and would provide an input to enable Cabinet Briefing to consider Denbighshire’s position.  Members noted that there were some positive aspects arising from the proposals including standardising policies and procedures across Wales to ensure a consistent approach, greater enforcement powers for local authorities, the sharing of information for safeguarding purposes, and modernisation of processes.  However members stressed the importance of local control, knowledge and accountability and firmly believed that local authorities should continue to have responsibility for taxi and private hire licensing within their areas, believing them to be best placed to effectively deal with local issues and influence local outcomes, ensuring greater control over the taxi and private hire trade in the county.  The hard work of both members and officers in raising standards and effecting improvements throughout Denbighshire’s licensed taxi and private hire trade was also highlighted and the importance of continuing that work and maintaining standards was considered of paramount importance.  Consequently there was no support for the proposal to redirect those functions away from local authorities to a national licensing authority.  Whilst debate focused predominately on taxi and private hire licensing reference was also made to the importance of the delivery of local bus services as part of that process and transportation in rural communities which was a priority for the Council.

RESOLVED that members –

(a)       note and support the contents of the report and the proposed response, and

(b)       subject to members’ views, authorise the Head of Planning and Public Protection to present the final draft as the response to the Welsh Government consultation on Improving Public Transport, in so far as it relates to taxi and private hire licensing.