Cllr Sean Macleod notes Lewes District Council (LDC) proposes to put many licensing fees up by some 50-60%. He says: "This is so wrong and largely affects the taxi trade which is struggling already. "He says LDC claims this is down to the council being the data controller for CCTV that it introduced three years ago. The CCTV introduction was controversial at the time due to the cost to the trade which is about £600 a car.
Now, he notes, Lewes is proposing to increase by 50/60% and this will cripple the trade even further especially the hackney carriage trade which is becoming extinct with only 89 cars left across the whole district.
Cllr Macleod feels strongly that members should vote these increases down they are going to cripple the trade even further and they should never have been approved by the licensing committee.
"The taxi trade is being hammered by policy changes and increases in fees in recent years and it’s staggering just how much fees have gone up. It’s time we stopped targeting the trade and actually helped support them."
A spokesperson for LDC said: "Following full consideration of multiple factors, the Licensing Committee has recommended increases which are subject to Full Council approval next week. These proposals have been put forward to address budget pressures related to taxis in our role as the licensing authority, and to cover the increased operational costs associated with CCTV data control."