Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no Declarations of Interest on this occasion.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 21^st July 2025 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held 21^st July 2025, be approved as a correct record.

Following on from the Licensing Committee meeting held on 21^st July 2025, whereby Members were asked to consider mandating CCTV in taxis. Members had sought further reassurance and had requested that the Licensing and Support Services Manager, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), conducted a light touch consultation with the Taxi Trade to better understand their thoughts and opinions in respect of mandating CCTV in taxis.

Members were now being asked to consider the responses received to the light touch consultation.

The Licensing and Support Services Manager, (WRS) introduced the report and in doing so informed Members that currently only a small number of licensing authorities (8%) had so far made it a legal requirement for all taxi and private hire vehicles to be fitted with mandatory CCTV systems. Those authorities had  been able to demonstrate through evidence and intelligence that such a policy was necessary. More recently these had included Barnsley Council, Portsmouth and Southampton, Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District Council. Swindon Borough Council had mandated CCTV in taxis it but had reversed this decision due to a number of challenges. There were no local authorities across Worcestershire that had mandated CCTV in taxis.

As requested by Licensing Committee Members, Officers had liaised with the Bromsgrove taxi representative regarding the installation of CCTV in hackney carriage and private hire vehicles. In response, the trade representatives had agreed with the proposal in principle and had acknowledged the potential benefits for both licence holders and passengers, particularly in enhancing safety and accountability. However, they expressed serious concerns that the associated costs and administrative requirements would be too prohibitive at the present time.

The taxi trade representative had explained that the taxi and private hire trade was facing significant financial pressures due to rising operational costs, increased competition from online platforms and vehicles and drivers licensed by other local authorities, and a general downturn in passenger demand. These challenges made it difficult for drivers and operators to commit to any additional expenditure, even for initiatives that they supported in theory. The representatives also highlighted the need for further consultation and potential financial support or phased implementation to make such measures more viable for the trade.

To obtain further information Officers had carried out an informal survey with the current 103 Bromsgrove licence holders to ascertain whether they firstly already had CCTV, if they would agree with a mandatory policy on CCTV and if they had any comments to add.

There were 30 responses received to the consultation. 63% of respondents said that they would not welcome the introduction of a mandatory policy on CCTV. 30% of respondents said yes and 2% said they ‘didn’t know’.

Analysis of the comments as to why licence holders did not feel they supported a mandatory policy included the high cost of installation and a number of respondents asked that if funding was available then they might consider it. Of the 30 respondents that replied 8 already had CCTV installed, under the Council’s voluntary CCTV option.

As  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14/25

The Committee considered the Work Programme for 2025/26.

Members raised and briefly discussed a number of potential items for inclusion on the Licensing Committee Work Programme, as follows:-

a)    Worcestershire Regulatory Services, Taxi Licensing, Application and Renewal Process

b)    Information on the Districts Taxi Fleet:-

·       Number of Electric vehicles

·       Number of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles

·       Are the number of taxis in the district in decline, proportionality compared to other districts.

c)     Feedback from the Taxi Association on the number of taxi ranks in the District, are there enough spaces? Are they under used with a decline in the number of taxis within the District?

Members were happy for the Licensing and Support Services Manager, (WRS), to provide information on the Districts Taxi Fleet (b), and the number and usage of the taxi ranks in the District (c); as detailed in the preamble above, to be emailed to all Licensing Committee Members.

RESOLVED that

a)    a report on Worcestershire Regulatory Services, Taxi Licensing, Application and Renewal Process be presented to the next meeting of the Licensing Committee, and

b)    the Licensing Committee Work Programme 2025/2026 be updated to reflect this.

There was no urgent business.

There were no Enforcement / Appeals updates.