ROUND THE COUNCILS SWINDON:
MANDATORY TAXI CCTV U-TURN
Taxi drivers in Swindon will not now be compelled to install CCTV in their vehicles after a change of heart by Swindon Borough Council. The cause of that change is the burden on the council to keep records. In mid-2022 the council’s licensing committee agreed to change policy to make CCTV mandatory in both hackney carriages and PHVs. The plan was for new vehicles to have the technology installed by the start of 2023 and then all vehicles by April 1. Last year staff shortages in the licensing department meant that the deadline was not achieved. The members of the committee agreed to put back the implementation of the policy by a year. That means, according to a licensing report, the team was able to look further into the requirements on the council if it insisted all taxis have cameras and recording equipment installed. Data protection laws would mean the local authority would be responsible for holding and managing the data captured by the CCTV if it was needed. A report said: “This review established that where the council has mandated CCTV as licensing policy, there are significant technical requirements that must be in place to implement the requirement and to fulfil the Information Commissioner’s Office requirements. These present onerous expectations on the council as the data controller.” It added that CCTV has not been needed in the occasions where complaints have been made against drivers: “Over the last year the council has received some complaints about the conduct of HCV and PHV drivers. Three drivers have been suspended and three have had their licence revoked as a result. “In taking this action, none of the investigations required CCTV footage to bring the matters to a conclusion. Whilst it is undeniably useful to capture footage via CCTV, the current level of criminality does not justify a requirement for mandatory inclusion. Fundamentally, the council does not have the resources to deliver a mandatory CCTV requirement at this time.” It does say if drivers want to install CCTV they should be allowed to do so. A new consultation of passengers and drivers at the start of 2024 said 72% of respondents, most of whom were taxi drivers, wanted CCTV to be option. Only 5% of UK councils mandate CCTV for taxis/ PHVs.
PHTM MAY 2024
NORTH YORKSHIRE: TAXI LICENSING STILL AN ISSUE
In April 2023 North Yorkshire Council (NYC) brought together eight councils into one organisation with the promise of making savings. Lord Wallace of Saltaire, a Liberal Democrat peer, was highly critical of the move 12 months ago. He told the House of Lords that local democracy in North Yorkshire had been “destroyed” by devolution and described the introduction of a unitary authority as an “incoherent mess”. Twelve months on, Lord Saltaire said people feel detached from their local authority and councillors are not coping with the number of constituents. He added that a district and county council model still worked, despite being criticised as “inefficient”. He said: “We still have county councils and district councils in some places. That in some ways is less efficient, but it does at least give people a connection with their local authority.” Since its launch, the changes in governance in the Harrogate district have been far reaching. Among the most controversial has been taxi licensing. Under the authority’s harmonisation agenda, the zone in which taxis can operate was made county-wide rather than district-wide. In theory, the move would allow drivers to operate anywhere in North Yorkshire. The council argued that the move would provide “flexibility, encouraging environmental efficiencies and creating a wider distribution of WAVs”. But, Richard Fieldman, who has operated his cab in Ripon for three decades, said he did not feel the move had improved the trade. He told the Stray Ferret: “I can’t comment on what is going on in other areas, but the drivers in Harrogate are pulling their hair out. They [the council] do not want to know. “We’ve been told that they are on the verge of sending out a new consultation. I have encouraged all the drivers to respond to that consultation.” At the time of the launch of NYC, Cllr Carl Les, the Conservative leader of the council, said the move was a “watershed” for how public services could be delivered to the county’s residents. Richard Flinton, chief executive of the authority, said in March last year: “Millions of pounds in savings will be made by streamlining operations and the delivery of services could not have come at a more important time. Public services could have been placed under even greater pressure without the move.” Has governance really been improved in the county?
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