Stockton Council plans to cut taxi licensing fees

C ourtesy: BBC NEWS

A Teesside council is planning to drop its taxi licensing fees for the second time in a year.

In January Stockton Council reduced the yearly hackney and private hire vehicle owners fee by £30.

Now it is planning to cut the fee by a further £30 after finding the council taxi licensing account had a “greater income than expected”.

The council plans to charge £100 for wheelchair accessible vehicles and £275 for other taxis from 1 October.

Local authorities are required by law to maintain a separate taxi licensing account, funded from licensing fees, which has no impact on council tax.

The income raised cannot be used to subsidise other council services.

Councillor Steven Nelson, Stockton Council’s cabinet member for housing and community safety, said: “Due to our increasingly efficient way of working we have built up a surplus in the taxi licensing account.

“This means we are in a position to propose a further reduction in the level of fees. In the current economic climate we hope that both hackney and private hire vehicle owners will welcome these proposals.”