Shropshire Council

Removal of the existing five hackney carriage zones - revised proposal

  • Period: 08 October 2018 - 04 November 2018
  • Status: Closed
  • Audiences: Everyone
  • Topics: Licensing and applications
  • Type: Public

On 3 October 2018 the Strategic Licensing Committee agreed an additional consultation period on the proposed removal of the existing five hackney carriage zones, and the application of a single hackney carriage licensing regime throughout the administrative area of Shropshire Council to commence for a period of four weeks from 8 October 2018 to midnight on the 4 November 2018.

We're seeking your comments on the following:

Initial proposal

The initial proposal to remove the existing five zones was based on an implementation date of 1 April 2019, with a two year transition period which would allow all taxi proprietors to operate their vehicles across the whole administrative area of Shropshire Council, with the requirement that all taxis are wheelchair accessible by 31 March 2021 at the latest. 

Feedback from the consultation suggested that the proposed transitional arrangements would give the taxi proprietors in zones 1, 2, 3 and 5 (who don’t already have wheelchair accessible taxis) an unfair economic advantage over proprietors in zone 4 who currently do have wheelchair accessible taxis. 

Officers have considered the responses that were received and as a result now consider that the original transitional arrangements that were proposed have changed fundamentally.

Revised proposal

It is now proposed that any decision to remove the existing zones should still be made in 2018/19, but with an effective implementation date delayed until 1 April 2021.

This means that the trade will still have a two year transition period. However, all proprietors will continue to operate in their current zones until 31 March 2021. All existing non-wheelchair accessible hackney carriage vehicle proprietors who hold a licence on 13 December 2018 (the date the final decision will be made by full council) in zones 1, 2, 3 and 5 must replace their vehicle with a wheelchair accessible vehicle by 31 March 2021.

A copy of the full report considered by the Strategic Licensing Committee can be found at Item 7 of the Strategic Licensing Committee agenda dated 3 October 2018.

Any comments received regarding the revised proposal of the removal of the five existing Hackney Carriage Zones and the application of a single Hackney Carriage licensing regime throughout the administrative area of Shropshire Council will be considered by the Council’s Strategic Licensing Committee on the 20 November 2018. 

We're really keen to hear your comments on the revised proposal of the removal of the five existing hackney carriage zones and the application of a single hackney carriage licensing regime throughout the administrative area of Shropshire Council.

If you have comments you'd like to make please contact us using the taxis@shropshire.gov.uk email address in the first instance. If you don't have access to email please submit your comments in writing using the address details on this page.

Data protection

Information collected in our surveys will only be used by us (Shropshire Council) to inform the immediate and future provision of our services. The information you provide will be kept confidential in accordance with our Privacy Policy. It will not be shared outside of Shropshire Council. Information collected via our online surveys (hosted on the Surveymonkey website) will be stored on SurveyMonkey’s servers in the United States of America and SurveyMonkey gives an undertaking never to disclose the survey questions or your responses to others without permission.