ROUND THE COUNCILS WEST SUFFOLK:
SOUTH CAMBS: COUNCIL’S PROPOSED CHANGES SLAMMED
Proposed policy changes for taxis in West Suffolk will ‘put drivers out of busi- ness’, say the trade. According to the Bury Free Press, West Suffolk Coun- cil is currently run- ning a public consul- tation on a range of livery options should the proposal to introduce a new sin- gle licensing area be adopted. There are three con- sultation options for HC liveries, one of which could see taxis have to be black with a yellow boot and bonnet wraparounds. Other options are for taxis to have no livery at all or to have black
vehicles with wrap- arounds in a colour other than yellow. Daniel Bird, who has been a taxi driver in Bury St Edmunds for 18 years, called the changes ‘ridicu- lous’. “It’s putting people out of business. The fact that St Ed- mundsbury merged with Forest Heath shouldn’t mean that we now have to shell out at least £300 to make our cars look the same as New- market taxis,” he said.
He said the extra expense, which the council said would only come when drivers buy a new car, was particularly
sore because of other challenges facing taxi drivers. “Everyone is strug- gling because the council has given out far too many taxi licences in the last five years which has put pressure on us to the point that a lot of us are think- ing of giving up completely.”
Cllr Andy Drum- mond, West Suffolk cabinet member for planning and regula- tory, said: “Let me assure this driver and his colleagues that this is genuine consultation includ- ing changes sug- gested by drivers.” The consultation ran until March 9.
POLICY IMPROVES SAFETY AND AIR QUALITY
A new taxi licensing policy for South Cambridgeshire aims to improve air quali- ty and increase the safety of passengers and drivers. On Thursday 20 February district councillors voted to adopt the new taxi licensing policy fol- lowing consul- tations during which the taxi trade resi- dents, businesses, councillors, and Cambridge City Council shared their views.
South Cambridge- shire District Council will adopt the new policy from 1 April 2020. CCTV will need to be installed in all vehicles as standard, to provide a consis- tent safeguarding approach. Mean- while, a number of changes have been approved that will ensure taxis are greener, supporting the council’s com- mitment to become a net-zero carbon district before 2050. They key points to highlight from the new policy are: • From 31 March 2021, CCTV will be a mandatory re- quirement for all HC and PHVs with- out exception.
• From 1 December 2021, new licences will only be grant- ed to taxis that are ultra-low or zero emission.
• From 1 December 2021, licences will not be granted for taxis older than nine years.
• From 1 December 2028, renewed li-
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cences will only be granted to taxis that are ultra-low or zero emission.
Councillor Bill Hand- ley, Lead Cabinet Member for Environ- mental Services and Licensing, said: “We’re really proud of this policy – it shows we’re doing everything we can to make South Cam- bridgeshire’s taxis as safe as they can possibly be for both passengers and drivers. “To address con- cerns about privacy, audio won’t be recorded unless a driver or passenger feels it is necessary, in which case they can press a button to start the record- ing and the fact that it is ‘on’ will be clear to passengers and the driver. The CCTV footage will be encrypted and stored securely in the vehicle and will automatically be erased after 28 days. “Drivers and opera- tors will be unable to access the data and the images will only be accessible to the police or licensing authority via a formal request to the council fol- lowing an incident. “We want to be green to our core and, with taxi jour- neys being a significant contribu- tor to local air pollution, the move to electric and hybrid vehicles will help cut carbon emissions across the district. We think we’ve set a fair time-
line, giving oper- ators and drivers enough time to plan for and make the shift. “To ensure an effec- tive transition, we have secured addi- tional Government funding (along with Cambridge City Council) to establish new electric car charging points across the district for exclusive use by taxis. Councillor Handley continued: “We’re grateful to everyone who joined in the consultations and we listened to con- cerns – for instance the policy requiring that signage dis- playing the oper- ator’s name and phone number be attached to the driv- er and front pas- senger doors. Actu- ally, this wasn’t a new policy, but with new operators now in the market, drivers wished to work for more than one operator and asked for it to be removed. “We reflected care- fully on the feed- back but decided that the advantages to public safety of being able to identi- fy the operator externally outweigh- ed any disadvan- tages. As I said before, safety is our primary concern.” During the vote councillors also ag- reed to report at least once per year on the frequency of requests made to the council to access the CCTV footage.
APRIL 2020
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