The Head of Community Services submitted a report to the General Purposes Licensing Committee on 23 January 2019 to recommend introduction of emission standards for Hackney Carriage Vehicles and amend the vehicle age limit for Private Hire Vehicles licensed by this Authority.

The minutes of the General Purposes Licensing Committee are attached at agenda item 9c.

Councillor Cook, Chair of the Committee will present the report.

Recommendations: the General Purposes Licensing Committee resolved to recommend Council to:

1.    approve the recommended option for  introduction of new emission standards for Hackney Carriage Vehicles licensed by this Authority;

2.    approve the recommended amendment to vehicle age criteria for licensing of new Low and Ultra Low Emission Private Hire Vehicles.

Councillor Malik having declared this item related to his disclosable pecuniary interests, withdrew from the council chamber for the duration of this item.

Council considered the report of the Head of Community Services and the recommendation from the General Purposes Committee to introduce emission standards for Hackney Carriage Vehicles:

and amend the vehicle age limit for Private Hire Vehicles licensed by this Authority:

vehicle age limit for first licensing of new Low and Ultra Low Emission Private Hire Vehicles to the following “The maximum age for a new Private Hire Vehicle to obtain a license is “less than five years of age” or “less than seven years of age for Alternative Fuel Type Vehicles (Tax Code TC59 definition), OR petrol vehicles (TC 48 definition) OR diesel vehicles (TC 49 definition AND meeting the RDE2 standard), that also produce CO2 emission figures of 110g/km or less as displayed in the DVLA V5 Vehicle Registration Certificate.”

Councillor Clarkson, Chair of the General Purposes Licensing Committee, moved the recommendations which were agreed on being seconded and put to the vote.

Council resolved to:

1.    approve the recommended option (set out in the report and above) for the introduction of new emission standards for Hackney Carriage Vehicles licensed by this Authority;

2.    approve the recommended amendment to vehicle age criteria(set out in the report and above)  for licensing of new Low and Ultra Low Emission Private Hire Vehicles.

The Head of Community Services has submitted a report to recommend introduction of emission standards for Hackney Carriage Vehicles and amend the vehicle age limit for Private Hire Vehicles licensed by this Authority.

Recommendations: That the General Purposes Licensing Committee resolves to:

1.    Approve the recommended option for  introduction of new emission standards for Hackney Carriage Vehicles licensed by this Authority;

2.    Approve the recommended amendment to vehicle age criteria for licensing of new Low and Ultra Low Emission Private Hire Vehicles; and

3.    Agree that such proposals be recommended to Council for adoption.

The Head of Community Services had submitted a report to recommend introduction of emission standards for Hackney Carriage Vehicles and amend the vehicle age limit for Private Hire Vehicles licensed by this Authority.

The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report.

Councillor Malik (speaking as a member of the public and taxi driver) and Mr Khan addressed the Committee. Both speakers recognised the need to address the issue of poor air quality and its detrimental consequences for health and accepted the contribution taxis need to play in making that improvement. However they were also of the view that option 3 as set out in the report and recommended by officers would be too onerous because of the  significant financial burden it would introduce over a short timescale . A decision based on option 2 of the report would, in their view, be preferable.

In response to questions the Sustainable City Manager explained the work being done by officers, working with vehicle owners, to support the introduction of low emission vehicles with reference to the information in Appendix 1 of the report.

In discussion members of the Committee recognised that the recommended option would not be without its challenges but reaffirmed the critical importance of tackling the issue of poor air quality as vigorously and as swiftly  as possible. Air quality in parts of the City was at an unacceptable level. The fact that some cities were choosing to tackle the matter less vigorously was not a reason for Oxford to do so.  The preferred option already contained a degree of compromise and a dilution of the suggested requirement was not desirable.

The Chair thanked officers for the work they were doing to facilitate a move to low and zero emission vehicles and noted that the cost of them  and the associated infrastructure would reduce over time.

On being put to a vote, the General Purposes Licensing Committee resolved to:

1.    Approve the recommended option for  introduction of new emission standards for Hackney Carriage Vehicles licensed by this Authority;

2.    Approve the recommended amendment to vehicle age criteria for licensing of new Low and Ultra Low Emission Private Hire Vehicles; and

3.    Agree that such proposals be recommended to Council for adoption