Agenda item
The Air Quality (Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles Database) (England and Wales) Regulations 2019
Minutes:
The Committee were asked to note a report that provided information on the implications of the following regulation, The Air Quality (Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles Database) (England and Wales) Regulations 2019 which came into effect on 1st May 2019.
The Senior Practitioner (Licensing), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), presented the report and explained that in 2017, the government published the UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations followed by a supplement in 2018 (together “the plan”).
The plan identified 61 local authorities in England showing exceedances which had been required to carry out feasibility studies and if necessary, develop bespoke plans to bring roadside concentrations of nitrogen dioxide within legal limits in the shortest possible time. The Welsh Government was taking the same approach.
Clean Air Zones (”CAZs”) would have a key role to play in delivery of a number of these local plans. The Clean Air Zone Framework sets out the minimum requirements for a CAZ and the expected approach to be taken by local authorities when implementing and operating these zones.
CAZs were not required to include a charging element. However, where there were no other viable options to reduce air pollution to legally permissible levels in the shortest possible time, some local authorities may decide to introduce zones; where vehicle owners were required to pay a charge to enter, or move within, a zone if they were driving a vehicle that did not meet the particular minimum emission standard for their vehicle type in that zone.
The Senior Practitioner (Licensing), WRS, drew Members’ attention to paragraph 3.7 in the report, which detailed the Clean Air Zone Framework, four classes of charging CAZ and paragraph 3.8 in the report, which detailed the minimum standards each vehicle type was expected to reach.
Ultra-low emission vehicles with significant zero emission range would never be charged for entering or moving through a CAZ.
Members were further informed that, Leeds and Birmingham would be introducing charging CAZs in 2020 (class B add D respectively). A number of other authorities had also consulted on the introduction of a charging CAZ.
To implement these schemes, local authorities may need to differentiate between taxis/PHVs and private vehicles. This was because in some cases local authorities would implement CAZs that applied charges to taxis and PHVs and not to private vehicles, or they may wish to set a different level of charge for these vehicles.
Licensing authorities only held information on taxis and PHVs licensed within their own area so were not able to clearly identify and charge a taxi/PHV entering or moving around their charging CAZ which had been licensed by another authority (also known as ‘out of area vehicles’).
If local authorities could not identify all ‘out of area vehicles’, than this would undermine their ability to effectively operate CAZs where charging of these vehicles had been determined to be necessary.
The Air Quality (Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles Database) (England and Wales) Regulations 2019, therefore required all licensing authorities in England and Wales to submit certain information about their licensed taxis/PHVs to a national database to be overseen by the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Licensing authorities were responsible for ensuring that the data which they provided was accurate, legitimate and up to date.
It was also for licensing authorities to ensure that they complied with any data protection legislation when implementing their obligations under the Regulations. The Council had to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with DEFRA with regard to the data that the Council had to provide under the Regulations.
It was anticipated that the Council would be required to begin supplying the required data towards the end of October 2019. In preparation for this all vehicle proprietors would be notified in writing of the obligation placed on the Council to provide the relevant data to DEFRA and the Council’s vehicle licence application forms would also be updated to make reference to the Regulations.
WRS officers would try and extract the required information on a weekly basis to send to DEFRA, they were just waiting for the go ahead from DEFRA.
In response to questions from Members, the Senior Practitioner (Licensing), WRS, stated that the costs of complying with the requirements, would be met from existing budgets. The Council currently had 108 hackney carriages and 40 private hire vehicles.
The Senior Practitioner (Licensing), WRS, briefly explained the European emission standards, Euro 4 for petrol driven vehicles and Euro 6 for diesel driven vehicles.
RESOLVED that the report on The Air Quality (Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles Database) (England and Wales) Regulations 2019, be noted.
Supporting documents:
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