Agenda item

Review of Provision of Hackney Carriage Stands

Minutes:

Members received a report asking them to consider whether or not to direct officers to engage in exploratory discussions regarding the feasibility of making changes to the provision of hackney carriage stands in the Borough.  In particular Members had previously made three suggestions set out in paragraph 2 of the report as follows:-

 

a.     The creation of a new hackney carriage stand at Redditch Railway Station.

b.     The creation of a new hackney carriage stand at the Alexandra Hospital, Redditch.

c.     Making alterations to the current hackney carriage stand located at Unicorn Hill and creating a new hackney carriage stand in Bates Hill.

 

The Senior Practitioner (Licensing) (SPL), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) presented the report and gave an overview of where the  existing hackney carriage stands were located referring Members to aerial photographs of the different locations (Appendix 1 of the Minutes).

 

The five existing hackney carriage stands identified were as follows:-

 

1.     At Unicorn Hill - operating 24 hours a day.

2.     At Trafford Retail park on the highway at Trescott Road (next to Costa coffee) and on the car park itself adjacent to Aldi (both operating 24 hours a day).

3.     On the highway at Queen Street/ Red Lion Street – operating 24 hours a day.

4.     At Redditch Bus Station on land owned by the Kingfisher Centre - operating 24 hours a day.

5.     On Evesham Road at Headless Cross between the hours of 8pm and 6 pm at the bus stop near “ Steps” and the bus stop opposite the White Hart.

 

It was noted that there was a five year lease in place between the Council and the Kingfisher Centre regarding the hackney carriage stand at the bus stations, and that this was due to be re-newed later in the year.

 

The SPL explained that the idea for Unicorn Hill would be to reduce the existing rank to 3 to 4 spaces during the day time and convert the spaces freed up to short term parking.  The displaced taxis would be accommodated by the creation of a new hackney carriage stand on Bates Hill.  During evenings there would be extra spaces available for hackney carriage vehicles as Unicorn Hill would revert from short term parking to a taxi stand and the additional spaces at Bates Hill would also be available.

 

The SPL stressed to Members that the report was not recommending formal “consultation” at this stage. Rather, that the officers would in the first instance have to carry out preliminary discussions with stake holders to establish if any of the ideas were feasible.  With regard to the hospital and the station these would be discussions with the relevant land owners as both locations would involve the creation of a hackney carriage stand on private land. With regard to Unicorn Hill, there would need to be detailed discussions with the highways authority and the police.

 

If the preliminary discussions were positive, then a further report wold be brought to the Licensing Committee inviting members to consider moving on to a formal consultation.

 

In debating the proposals Members referred to a number of issues including:-

 

·       Concerns that in comparison to Unicorn Hill, Bates Hill was more isolated and had poorer lighting.

·       That it would be beneficial to introduce a hackney carriage stand at the hospital and that it would increase the choice available to the public; currently the only facility for the public using the hospital was a free phone to call a private hire vehicle.

·       That changing the hackney carriage stand to short term parking on Unicorn Hill could be of benefit for shoppers and for the local businesses on Unicorn Hill.

·       That in agreeing any changes, Members would want to ensure that the number of spaces available on the amended hackney carriage stands would represent an increase compared to current provision.  In this regard it was noted that Bates Hill could potentially act as a feeder rank and the Chair confirmed that there was no intention to reduce the amount of hackney carriage stand provision available.

 

Overall, Members were in support of proceeding with the next stage of discussions between officers and the relevant stakeholders.

 

RESOLVED that

 

Officers engage with the relevant stakeholders to explore the possibility of the following:-

 

a.     The creation of a new hackney carriage stand at Redditch Railway Station.

b.    The creation of a new hackney carriage stand at the Alexandra Hospital, Redditch.

c.     Making alterations to the current hackney carriage stand located at Unicorn Hill and creating a new hackney carriage stand in Bates Hill.

 

[Prior to the commencement of this item the Chair used his discretion to allow Mr Imran Altaf from the Redditch Taxi Association the opportunity to make comments on matters he had not addressed during the public speaking at Agenda item 4.  The Chair reminded the meeting that going forward, all comments from public speakers would have to be made at Agenda item 4 and not on a report by report basis.]

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