ROUND THE COUNCILS BIRMINGHAM:
CHRISTCHURCH: TAXI FARE INCREASES MOVE CLOSER
Taxi fare increases in Christchurch have moved a step closer after
councillors
backed calls from drivers to bring them in to line with Bournemouth and Poole. According to the
Bournemouth Echo, a request was made by the Taxi Liaison Group in May.
If
approved, taxi fares in Christchurch will increase from £4.45 to £4.60 for a one- mile journey with each additional mile
LEEDS:
Leeds City Council has started a statu- tory public consul- tation on its pro- posed clean air charging zone, in- cluding feedback on air quality solutions post-2020. Announced at the end of last year, the ‘Class B’ zone would target HGVs, buses, coaches, taxis and PHVs – but not cars or vans. Fleetworld reports that following a first phase of consulta- tion around draft plans, the council has now taken on board
feedback
from local business- es and the public, and reduced the size of the boundary area to lessen the economic impact on businesses. It has also reduced the proposed tariff for non-compliant buses from £100 to £50 and is propos- ing a charge for buses, coaches and HGVS of £50 a day and a charge of £12.50 a day for taxis and PHVs – with ‘sunset’ periods now proposed for the lat- ter and finance
24
CONSULTATION ON CLEAN AIR ZONE economy,
packages available to help assist the trade in the move to petrol hybrid and electric vehicles. The consultation will also look at the ambitions for the city after 2020, call- ing on the public and businesses to outline what they believe the council should be doing post-2020 to ad- dress air pollution in the city, including the possibility of car-free days in the city and a low emis- sion zone in the city centre. And the council said it was pushing for a nationwide policy on intercity charg- ing that would see vehicles only charg- ed once per day regardless of the number of clean air zonesthat were entered. The changes follow work by The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) and ACFO to outline the fleet case, and the need to not unfairly pun- ish
drivers or
damage small busi- nesses and the local
at a
roundtable event. Eco lawgroupClient- Earth said it would be going over the plans. The firm scored a third legal win againstthe Gov- ernment earlier this year over air quality plans after it said the Government
had
backtracked on plans for clean air zones in Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton, which it believes should bemandatory. Commenting on the latest Leeds propos- als, senior cam- paigner Andrea Lee said that clean air zones are the quick- est way to bring down illegal and harmful levels of air pollution and added that the UK govern- ment is responsible for making sure that Leeds meets legal limits of air pollution in the shortest time possible. View the revised proposals at www.
leeds.gov.uk/airqua l i tyconsul tat ion. The consultation will close on 12 August 2018. Also see Green feature.
rising by 5p to £2.30. Christchurch coun- cil’s licensing com- mittee has support- ed the changes, as recommended by officers, subject to the findings of a two-week public consultation.
A-Z AXED FROM PRIVATE HIRE TEST
The A-Z test has been axed from Bir- mingham private hire applications, prompting fears it could lower
the
standard of drivers. BBC News reports thatthe council has removed the part of the exam where people use the map book to plot a route, stating most are failing because they rely on satnavs. Concerns have also been raised that the changes could lead to more operators
who cannot speak English fluently. The authority has maintained
that
standards will be upheld. The deci- sionwas made at a meeting of
the
city’s licensing and public protection committee in June. Changes to the knowledge exam, including the ability to test multiple people at once and change all ques- tions to multiple choice, were also approved, the Local
Democracy Report- ing Service said. The meeting also heard that officials fear drivers failing the tests are obtain- ing licences from elsewhere only to operate in Birming- ham. TOA Taxis chairman Manawar Hussain said: “If an applicant can’t read an A to Z, communicate with a passenger or read an address, how is he going to transport that passenger to their destination?”
MERTHYR TYDFIL CBC: NOWLEDGE TEST PLANNED
New taxi drivers in Merthyr Tydfil could soon have to do a knowledge type test to get a licence. Under new plans to be considered by the council, those applying for
a
licence to drive a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle in Merthyr Tydfil would have to pay £45 to do a test similar to that taken by London taxi drivers. As well as testing their knowledge of the area, prospec- tive new drivers would also be tested on their numeracy skills, literacy skills, issues around safe- guarding, taxi driv- ing
laws and
through an oral skills test. Current
licence
holders will still be able to operate under current rules
but they could be required to take the test under a licence review. Both hackney car- riage and private hire taxi licences are valid for one year in Merthyr Tydfil. An application to renew cannot be made more than 28 days before
a
licence is due to expire and the MoT must be dated with- in 28 days of the expiry of the exist- ing licence. The new test will be carried out by Tydfil Training on behalf of the authority who will also deal with payments from ap- plicants. Butthe councilwarns there is a potential for loss of income from applicants who are not based in Merthyr Tydfil who apply for Merthyr Tydfil licences but
work in other local authorities. The council has looked at how other authorities rolled out knowledge
have their tests
when considering how to implement its own. The policy change resulted from a wide ranging review the council undertook into itssafeguarding procedures follow- ing the Casey report into child sexual exploitation
in
Rotherham and in October 2015 a new taxi licence applica- tion policy was ap- proved. Most of those who responded to the council’s consulta- tion agreed with an idea which includes a free retest. Full council passed the proposal at their latest meeting on Wednesday, June 27.
AUGUST 2018
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