Council launch taxi licensing consultation

Posted by The Journal on Aug 14, 09 09:20 AM in Councils

Taxis outside Newcastle Central Station People are being invited to have their say on how taxi licences are given out in Northumberland.

Northumberland County Council has developed a draft policy setting out how applications for hackney carriage licences are dealt with.

It has been drawn up in response to a recent High Court case involving Newcastle City Council and the now defunct Berwick Borough Council.

The case related to the operation of hackney carriages outside the area in which they were licensed.

The court ruled that a licensing authority must 'have regard' to whether the applicant intends to use the taxi in the area where it is licensed, or whether they intend to use it either entirely or predominantly outside the area. The county council has agreed a draft policy reflecting the judgement and has now launched a formal consultation.

Coun Edward Heslop, chairman of the council's licensing and regulatory committee, said: "The intention of this policy is to set out a fair and transparent way of dealing with licence applications and applications for renewal."

All comments received will be considered by the licensing committee and will help it to agree the final policy, which the council aims to consider at its meeting on November 4. The policy will apply to applications for renewal of a licence as well as to new licences.

The draft policy can be viewed and a consultation response form obtained from the council's website: www.northumberland.gov.uk

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