The meeting included a scheduled discussion about taxi licensing fees for the next financial year, how the council inspects taxis and private hire vehicles, and a report on the council’s licensing activities.

Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Testing

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on the Knowsley Council's arrangements for taxi and private hire vehicle testing in Knowsley.¹ The report recommended that the committee defer their consideration of the options for taxi and private hire vehicle testing in future until early in 2025/26 to allow recent changes that have impacted demand on testing to be fully evaluated. Knowsley Council is the local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England.

Since August 2023, the council has seen a large increase in the number of applications for taxi driver and vehicle licences. This has put pressure on the council's Fleet Management Service which is currently responsible for carrying out all vehicle inspections.

Previously, the committee had agreed to form a sub-committee to examine other options for vehicle testing. However, after the council made changes to the application process for driver licences, the number of applications being received has fallen.

These changes have collectively impacted on the volume of new driver applications being received. Demand for driver licences usually has an impact on demand for vehicle licences, and due to this decrease in driver applications, we are anticipating a reduction in new vehicle applications in quarter 1 of 2025/26.

Proposed Licensing Fees and Charges 2025/26

The committee had been scheduled to discuss the fees the council charges for licences in the 2025/26 financial year. The report prepared for the committee explained that:

The Cabinet and the Council, as part of the budget setting process, will consider a schedule of fees and charges for the forthcoming 2025/26 financial year. However, some fees relating to licences, permits, registration, consents, or permissions, require consideration by the Licensing Committee in accordance with the Council’s Constitution and the Local Authorities (Functions and Responsiblilites) (England) Regulations 2000, prior to being reported to Cabinet and Council.

The report proposed that the council should increase most fees by between 6-10%. However, it also proposed that the fees for taxi and private hire licences should not change, because:

the additional income achieved in 2024/25 through an increase in the number of licences issued, combined with the increase in costs to address this increased demand, the imminent culimination of the service review and proposed changes to taxi and private hire licencing policies that could impact licence fee income (e.g. vehicle testing) means that there are currently too many unknown variables to be able to set fees to accurately reflect full cost recovery for 2025/26.

The report noted that, by law, the council must advertise any changes to taxi licence fees in a local paper before it can change them.

Licensing Administration and Enforcement Activity Between 16 July 2024 and 31 October 2024

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on the council's licensing enforcement activity during the previous three months. The report says that the council’s licensing enforcement team works to ensure that:

licences and permits are issued promptly and are regulated in line with current legislation.

The report describes the number of licence applications that were processed and the number of inspections that were carried out. The report states that no problems requiring enforcement action were identified during any of the inspections. The report also describes the work the council has done with other agencies. For example:

Officers participated in a multi-agency operation arranged by colleagues in Merseyside Police on 25 July. This operation was arranged by Merseyside Police and was also attended by the Councils Road Safety team.

The report also describes how Knowsley Council's licencing enforcement officers are now authorised to inspect taxis licensed by Wolverhampton City Council. The report says that this is a positive step because:

This is a significant step in being able to address concerns from Knowsley’s licensed driver and vehicle trade regarding Wolverhampton licensed vehicles.

Licensing Sub-Committee

The minutes of a Licensing Sub-Committee meeting held on 15 August 2024 were included on the agenda.

The sub-committee considered an application from Mr J Thuraisingam, the licence holder of Today’s Express at 14 Eccleston Street, Prescot, L34 5QE, to vary the shop’s premises licence.

The application requested permission for the shop to sell alcohol and open until 1am every day. Merseyside Police made representations at the sub-committee meeting, and requested that the shop should close at midnight.

Following the meeting, the applicant amended their application, and the sub-committee granted them a licence to sell alcohol and open until midnight from Sunday to Thursday, and until 1am on Friday and Saturday.