Council wants to retain control of taxi licences

TAXI licences should remain in local control Ceredigion councillors have said, while welcoming national reform proposals.

A Welsh Government consultation is underway regarding proposals to reform taxi and private hire licensing regimes in order to protect the public.

A draft response from Ceredigion County Council was discussed by the licensing committee at its meeting on Wednesday, April 3.

It states that current proposals “fall short of the reform that taxi and private hire licensing so desperately requires.”

Consumer services manager David Lloyd Roberts said: “We as a local authority might lose control of taxi enforcement. Who better in my view to look at safeguarding and safety.”

He added that he believed it was important that local authorities retained that role and councillors on the consultation panel had supported that.

There were no objections to greater consistency and national conditions being introduced but regulation should remain locally the committee heard.