Chichester District Council is considering increasing licensing fees for taxis in an effort to plug a gap in its costs.
Legally, the cost of licensing the district’s hackney carriage and private hire vehicles is supposed to be fully covered by income from fees and charges.
But a £23,700 shortfall is predicted for 2024/25.
During the pandemic, in an effort to make things easier for the drivers, the council didn’t increase the fees.
By the end of 2020/21, the cost gap stood at £102,650.44. Two years later it was down to £74,884.46 – still quite a hefty shortfall.
In February 2024, it was agreed that a 37% increase in the cost of licensing fees would be introduced, spread over two years.
But, during a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday (March 11), members were told that the 18% increase for 2025/26 would not be enough, and supported the idea of adding another 10% on top of that.
Iain Ballantyne (Lib Dem The Witterings), chair of the general licensing committee, said: “Sometimes these issues are matters of presentation. If you present this argument as an increase of 10%, that worries everybody to quite some considerable extent.
“But when you look at the actual cost to the driver per week, which is a maximum of 49p, this isn’t an amount of money that’s going to be hurtful to the trade.”
A 28-day consultation into the proposed increase will be held. After that, should all go as planned, the application cost for a one-year licence for drivers with a dual hackney carriage/ private hire licence will rise from £166 to £216.38, while renewing a one-year licence will rise from £134 to £174.67.
A three-year licence will rise from £369.50 to £481.65, with a renewal rising from £337.50 to £439.93.
