This report seeks a decision on whether Members wish to change the current policy of requiring all hackney carriages to be wheelchair accessible.

The Committee received and considered a report of the Director of Sustainable Communities which sought a decision as to whether to change the current policy of requiring all hackney carriages to be wheelchair accessible.

The Committee received representations made under the Public Participation Scheme in accordance with the Scheme of Public Participation Scheme as set out on Paragraph 1, annex 1 of Part A4.

The hackney carriage conditions for Central Bedfordshire include a wheelchair accessible policy.  The Committee noted that 225 vehicles are licensed as hackney carriages in Central Bedfordshire, 27 of those are not wheelchair accessible and would need to be replaced by wheelchair accessible vehicles when they reach 10 years old.  Therefore, 12% of the current hackney carriage fleet are not wheelchair accessible.

A consultation was undertaken seeking views on whether the policy should be changed to permit a proportion of non wheelchair accessible vehicles.  Results of the consultation were detailed in the report.  Copies of representations were attached to the report.

The Committee noted that the Law Commission were looking into modernising Private Hire law.

During ensuing discussion upon the report the Committee agreed to retain the current requirement for all hackney carriages to be wheelchair accessible and revisit the matter when the Government makes further recommendations.

RESOLVED

that the current requirement for all hackney carriages to be wheelchair accessible be retained and that the matter be revisited when the Government makes further recommendations in 2014.