Public participation
Members of the public who live or work in the District are welcome to speak and may ask one question or make a statement of not more than three minutes duration relating to items to be discussed in Part 1 of the agenda only. If a question is asked and answered within three minutes, the person who asked the question may ask a supplementary question that arises from the reply.
A person who wishes to speak must register at least 15 minutes before the time the meeting is scheduled to start.
There is an overall limit of 15 minutes for public speaking, which may be extended at the Chair’s discretion.
Public participation
Members of the public who live or work in the District are welcome to speak and may ask one question or make a statement of not more than three minutes duration relating to items to be discussed in Part 1 of the agenda only. If a question is asked and answered within three minutes, the person who asked the question may ask a supplementary question that arises from the reply.
A person who wishes to speak must register at least 15 minutes before the time the meeting is scheduled to start.
There is an overall limit of 15 minutes for public speaking, which may be extended at the Chair’s discretion.
Minutes:
The following members of the public spoke under this item in relation to Agenda Item 6: Report No LIC/WS/24/001 Review into West Suffolk Council’s Hackney Carriage Fares for 2024:
Jason Crooks (Licensed Driver)
Mr Crooks advised the Committee that he understood there to be approximately 240 Hackney Carriage licenced drivers in the West Suffolk District and therefore asked Members to be mindful of these 240 livelihoods when considering the report in question.
He had objected to the report’s original proposal to remove tariffs 4, 5 and 6 and therefore welcomed the alternative fare card that was tabled at the start of the meeting by Officers and which proposed to retain these three tariffs.
Mark Goodchild (Licensed Driver - Goodchilds Cars)
Similarly to Jason Crooks, Mr Goodchild welcomed the alternative proposal to retain tariffs 4, 5 and 6 as tabled.
However, he argued against some of the other tariffs proposed particularly tariff 2 which he considered should have a lower starting rate but then a higher rate against each subsequent 160 yards.
He advised the Committee that insurance renewals had dramatically increased for drivers and that as national minimum wage was due to increase in April that the fares should increase for drivers proportionately to this.
Cliff Mullane (Licensed Driver)
Likewise to the previous two speakers, Mr Mullane firmly welcomed the alternative proposal to retain tariffs 4, 5 and 6 as tabled and stated that without the inclusion of the specific tariffs for 5 or more passenger vehicles there would be no incentive for drivers to operate the larger vehicles.
Mr Mackenzie (Licensed Driver)
Mr Mackenzie also strongly welcomed the alternative proposal to retain tariffs 4, 5 and 6 as tabled.
He also made reference to the recommendation to annually review taxi fares at the meeting scheduled closest to 1 March and argued that November would be preferred from his perspective.