Cost of taxi licenses set to increase in Powys

THE cost of Taxi licenses are set to be increased by Powys County Council, but they will still be mostly less than they cost before the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the council’s Planning, Licensing and Rights of Way committee on Thursday, January 12 councillors will discuss and vote on the changes.

In her report Powys’ licensing team manager Sue Jones said: “Fees for 2023/2024 reflect business starting to return to usual whilst retaining some of the efficiencies gained by shifting to online application submissions.

“The level of compliance checks for vehicles has not yet returned to pre-covid levels.”

“Fees are calculated using a toolkit devised by the All-Wales Licensing
Expert Panel with assistance from our finance team.”

Ms Jones explains that the increases for 2023/2024 will see the council’s income from Taxi licences go up by £8500, which equates to an overall 10 per cent increase.

If councillors agree the proposals, they will then be advertised in the local press allowing a 28-day period for objections to be lodged.

Ms Jones explained that any objections to the proposed fees would need to be “considered” and reported back to the committee.

Ms Jones said: “If no objections are made, then these fees will come into
effect on April 1.”

The fees for 2023/2024 which don’t include the cost for DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks are:

Hackney carriage private hire (1 year): £146 going up from £130 this year, but still below £148 from 2021/2022
Driver licence (3 years): £2780.50 going up from £248 this year, it was £260 in 2021/2022.
Driver licence (1 year): £146 up from £140 this year, but still less than £150 it cost in 2021/2022.
Private Hire Operators (5 years): £358 down from £387 this year and it had cost £405 in 2021/2022.