Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor J. Elledge be elected Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing municipal year.

RESOLVED that Councillor B. McEldowney be elected Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing municipal year.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor J. Elledge, with Councillor E.M.S Gray in attendance as the substitute Member.

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.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 24^th March 2025 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held 24^th March 2025, be approved as a correct record.

The Principal Officer, Licensing, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), presented the report to Members. The purpose of the report was to review the mandating of CCTV in taxis.

Members were informed that on 1^st September 2022 Bromsgrove District Council had introduced The Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards (‘The Standards’). The Standards were published in July 2020 and included the use of CCTV as an area for Local Authority discussion.

The Council already had a voluntary CCTV option in place for all vehicle owners. On introduction of the policy in 2022 Officers had advised that they would monitor intelligence and would engage with partners to ensure that the policy remained in line with what the data was showing us.

The Principal Officer, Licensing, WRS, drew Members’ attention to page 16 of the main agenda pack, which referenced that in February 2019 The Department for Transport (DfT) had carried out a consultation exercise to gather views and evidence on measures for inclusion within their statutory guidance for licensing authorities “Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing: Protecting Users”.

The guidance was published to assist local licensing authorities in England and Wales who had responsibility for the regulation of the taxi and private hire vehicles, on how their licensing powers could be exercised in order to safeguard children and vulnerable adults.

The Guidance was then published in 2020 and set out a framework of policies that licensing authorities “must have regard” to when exercising their functions. These functions included developing, implementing, and reviewing their taxi and PHV licensing regimes, one of which was the installation of CCTV in licensed hackney carriage and private hire vehicles.

The consultation document acknowledged the potential risk to public safety when passengers travelled in taxis and PHVs and stated that it was the DfT’s view that CCTV could provide an additional deterrence to prevent this and investigative value when it did. They further stated that the use of CCTV could provide a safer environment for the benefit of taxi/PHV passengers and drivers by: -

• deterring and preventing the occurrence of crime

• reducing the fear of crime

• assisting the police in investigating incidents of crime

• assisting insurance companies in investigating motor vehicle accidents

As part of the consultation on the Statutory Taxi Standards undertaken in 2022, Officers had proposed that if this element of the standards was to be considered in detail, then it would need to be looked at as a separate project. Officers advised that there would be a lengthy consultation process required to ensure all stakeholders were included in any discussions if taken forward.

The responses received from the consultation undertaken by Bromsgrove District Council between 12 February 2019 and 22 April 2019 on its draft Hackney Carriage and Private hire licensing policy did not lead Officers to believe that CCTV was an area to be explored further.

Members were asked to note that, as detailed in the report, at the present time only a small number of licensing authorities (7%)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6/25

Members received a report, for noting, on the Deregulations Act 2015 and the effect on taxi and private hire licensing.

The Principal Officer, Licensing, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) presented the report and in doing so, informed the Committee; that at a meeting in mid-2024 with the Taxi Representatives in Bromsgrove, concerns were raised by Bromsgrove’s hackney carriage trade members regarding the rising number of Uber vehicles which were entering and working inand around the district. Concerns were also raised in relation to the regulations which were implemented that allowed Uber to operate in other local authority areas, under its current business model.

Since the majority of these Uber private hire vehicles were licensed by Wolverhampton City Council (WCC) Licensing Officers wrote to WCC asking for support and had since carried out joint enforcement activity in Bromsgrove’s Nighttime Economy with WCC officers. The enforcement activity was to ensure that any vehicles licensed by WCC entering and working in the district, were meeting the requirements as set out in this report and working within the regulations.

Licensing Committee Members had requested a reminder of the legislation that was introduced that enabled Uber’s operating model.

Members’ attention was drawn to paragraphs 3.7 and 3.8 (page 57 of the main agenda pack), which detailed that:-

‘It has always been the case that a taxi or private hire vehicle had the “right to roam” meaning that they are not limited or restricted to simply working within their controlled district, this meant that a driver and vehicle licensed by a Local Authority could work anywhere in the country on a pre-booked basis. It has also always been the case that a resident of one area could make a booking with a private hire operator licensed in a totally different area and that an operator could lawfully accept the job and dispatch a driver and vehicle licensed by their local authority into the local authority area where the passenger wanted to be picked up.

The Deregulation Act 2015 however, further enabled a private hire operator licensed by one Local Authority to accept a booking and then sub-contract it to another operator licensed by a different Local Authority (previously they could only sub-contract to an operator licensed by the same Council as them).’

Since its implementation in 2015, many private hire operators had taken advantage of the freedoms which the Deregulation Act 2015 had introduced. Companies had set up satellite offices in other cities and neighbouring districts and were now sub-contracting private hire bookings to themselves and dispatching a vehicle and driver licensed by that local authority.

The Government’s intention when implementing the Deregulation Act 2015 was to encourage free trade across district council borders, which inevitably had led to the current situation within the UK. The Governmentdid not see this as problematic, as it had achieved what it intended to with the introduction of the Act, so it was not a loophole as many people seemed to state, hence within Bromsgrove District Council it was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7/25

The Committee considered the Work Programme for 2025/26.

Members agreed that as detailed in the preamble above, that following Licensing Officers (light touch) engagement with the Bromsgrove Taxi Association / Taxi Trade, on CCTV in taxis, it was  

RESOLVED that

a)    a further report on ‘Mandating CCTV in Taxis’ be presented to the Licensing Committee meeting scheduled for 10^th November 2025, 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.