Members of City of York Council's City Strategy Panel will be asked for their views on whether the authority should continue to restrict the number of taxi vehicle licences it issues (on 10 September).

York is currently amongst the 30 per cent of taxi licensing authorities in the country that continue to restrict the number of hackney carriages able to operate, with numbers presently limited to 158 motorised taxis and four horse drawn hackney carriages.

The Department of Transport has written to all local authorities requesting them to review their policies and advise that   restrictions should only be retained where a specific case can be made to show that it would be to the benefit of the consumer to do so.
The number of licences in York was last increased in 1996, but the city's population has risen significantlty since then and is set to rise by 15.6 per cent by 2016. Visitor numbers are also increasing and visitor nuymbers were up 9 per cent in 2006 compared to 1996.

To help inform the decision the council carried out a consultation with stakeholders, to gauge the views of owners, driversand members of the public

There are four potential options available to members:
- to maintain the existing limit on hackney carriage licences
- to deregulate and grant a taxi licence to anyone meeting the application criteria
- to grant a number of new licences to meet the unmet demand
- to grant a specific number of licences each year until market forces regulate demand

Officers are recommending the final option - to grant a specific number of licences each year - as it is thought that this would meet the government's requirements, meet the demand for fully accessible vehicles and allow manageable growth of the hackney carriage trade, whilst at the same time allowing existing licence holders to respond to the changing trading environment.

Members will be asked to put forward their view to the council's Licensing and Regulatory Committee, which will make a final decision about which option to chose on 4 November.