Planned fee increase for taxi and private hire drivers in Luton 'unfair' says councillor

Planned licensing charges for taxi and private hire drivers in Luton seem unfair compared to other service areas where increases are planned, a meeting heard.

The borough council is proposing mid-year increases to some fees and charges to ensure it recovers some of the extra costs incurred because of inflationary pressures, its scrutiny finance review group was told.

LBC’s finance business partner Darren Lambert said: “Given the unprecedented increase in inflation and the proposed pay award for this year, the local authority finds itself exposed to increased costs which weren’t factored into this year’s budget.

“This has contributed to the £10m overspend reported at quarter one (of 2022/23). These inflated costs weren’t considered when the council approved its scale of charges in February. We can’t increase all charges, such as those which are statutory.

“A further comprehensive review of all our fees and charges is under way around increasing these further from April 2023. Those proposals will be progressed as part of the 2023/24 budget setting procedures.

“The report proposes changes across ten council services and will be presented to the executive on October 10th. Those that fall under the administration and regulation committee will be considered at its meeting on on October 31st.

“The intention is to implement the changes from November 1st or as soon thereafter, as some may need publicising first before they can be introduced.

“The pay award for 2022/23 works out at an average of six per cent across the local authority,” he added.

“The proposals are estimated to deliver an extra £222,000 in the remainder of this financial year, so in a full year these charges could deliver more than half a million pounds, which would help reduce the overspend.”

The ten areas are adult social care non-residential services, revenues summons fees, community centres, street naming and numbering, licensing including taxis, scrap metal and animal welfare, on-street and off-street parking, registration services, cemeteries and crematorium, household waste and trade and clinical waste.

Liberal Democrat Barnfield councillor David Franks asked about what provision there should be to deal with extra flytipping, if the amount goes up for garden waste collections and for bulky items to be collected by the council.

Mr Lambert replied: “It’s something we’ll continue to monitor. If the income allows us to put another crew in place, we’ll do so. We think flytipping is manageable within the resource currently provided.”

Councillor Franks warned: “I think you’ll need to.”

Liberal Democrat Stopsley councillor David Wynn said: “The section of the increased charges for Hackney Carriages is out of proportion to the rest of the report and much higher, which I consider unfair.”

Mr Lambert explained: “The proposals have been put forward by the service managers. The cost of administering these will increase.

“There’s an element of cost recovery here. You could argue we may have pitched that too high. We’re only allowed to recover our costs on this.

“It’s something we can be audited and challenged on. I’m comfortable these costs are defensible.”

Councillor Franks suggested the group advises the executive it notes the report, but cannot support the recommendation because of gaps in the information and apparent disproportionate increases in fees for taxis and the private hire trade, which was agreed.