Agenda item

The Principal Licensing Officer, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS), presented the report to Members. The purpose of the report was for Members to resolve whether to direct Officers to undertake the required legal process in respect of the hackney carriage stand orders along Unicorn Hill.

Officers detailed that at the November Licencing Committee, Members instructed Officers to undertake the required public consultation process. Officers clarified that as the plans had been out for consultation Members were invited to either accept or reject the proposal, as amendments to the plan relating to the rank could not be made.

Officers detailed the changes which were proposed for the Unicorn Hill Taxi Rank in that:

• The Current 85m 24-hour taxi rank would be reduced to 36m (Approx 7 parking spaces) which would be at the bottom end of unicorn hill, the location was requested by the Taxi trade following consultation.
• There would be a further 36m section which would be designated as short stay parking between 8am to 6pm. This would revert to a taxi rank between 6pm and 8am. The total size of the taxi rank for this period of time would be 72m.
• There would then be a 13m disabled parking area for blue badge holders.
• There would be a 13m dedicated for delivery loading/offloading after the existing taxi rank area.

Following anecdotal observations, data was sought and provided by CCTV operations in the area over a 28day period, the information was detailed on page 35 of the public reports pack. The CCTV evidence showed that the maximum occupancy throughout the daytime was 6 vehicles, which increased to 8 during the evening.

Officers drew Members attention to objections raised by The Redditch Taxi Association (RTA) and a number of individuals, found on pages 17 to 33 of the Public Reports pack.

Officers highlighted that many of the complaints were in relation to enforcement matters, it was hoped that the reassigning of unicorn hill would reduce some of those concerns.

The following was clarified by Officers during questions from Members:

• That the law did not permit the ANPR Cameras to be used to enforce parking on Unicorn Hill.
• That there were 521 taxi vehicle licence holders (both Private and Hackney carriage) licenced by Redditch Borough Council. All had been invited to comment.
• Members were free to call a review at any point and making a decision had no impact on that.
• There was no similar data exercise undertaken during the summer months, to identify if there was a difference during time of year. The CCTV evidence was requested to corroborate the anecdotal observations.
• There would be appropriate signage in place to indicate the dual nature of the short stay parking area. The change would also be highlighted to the RTA and relevant licence holders.
• Officers detailed that Hackney Carriage vehicles also had the Bus station and Queens Street ranks. Both were also underused, although the Bus station appeared to be the busier location.
• Customer trends had gradually changed over the last 15 years with more customers using app-based taxi providers to collect from their location rather than walking to the closest taxi rank.
• That considering the consultation process, Members would not be able to amend the plans as that would require the process to be undertaken again, therefore Members would only be able to accept or refuse the proposal.

Members then debated the report.

Members noted that main issue identified was that of enforcement of the illegal parking which would need to be investigated, however it was accepted that this was beyond the Licencing Committee’s remit.

Members had differing concerns with various aspects of the proposal including the space allocated as a 24hour taxi rank, the inclusion of the Delivery loading/unloading area and the Blue badge area, however, Members were reminded that due to the consultation process the decision for Members was to accept or refuse only.

Although Members did not agree on the specifics in places, there was broad agreement that the taxi Rank needed to be reviewed and that some short stay parking would be welcomed by local businesses.

On being put to a vote it was:

RESOLVED that

the Licensing Committee instructed Officers to undertake the required legal processes to make, alter or revoke any Hackney Carriage Stand Orders in respect of Unicorn Hill.