Boom in taxi licences across the Fareham borough leaves council team ‘really busy’

A boom in taxi licence applications is bringing in extra cash but piling pressure on council staff.

Fareham Borough Council has revealed income from Hackney carriage licences is “well above budget”, with officers describing the service as “really, really busy”.

The position was highlighted as councillors scrutinised the authority’s finances at an Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting on October 26.

Neil Wood, the council’s financial planning and audit manager, said the higher-than-expected income was positive for the authority, but the volume of applications was putting pressure on staff.

He said: “Another area where we have an awful lot of income is in the Hackney carriage licences, and we are well above budget on that.

“While this is positive, it is causing some issues in the team with the number of applications that are coming through.”

Mr Wood said a consultation was underway on reducing some of the licensing criteria, which officers hope will bring application numbers down.

He added: “It is good news on the income side, but from the staffing side it just means that the service is really, really busy.”

The council’s latest General Fund monitoring report is forecasting an overall underspend of around £328,000.

Planning income is also performing better than expected, and it is currently around £125,000 above budget.

Mr Wood said major applications and applications connected with the Welborne development had helped keep planning income high.

However, StreetScene is currently the only area showing an overspend, with rising fuel costs a contributing factor.

The service is the biggest user of the council’s vehicles, and its fuel spending is around £50,000 higher than at the same point last year.

Mr Wood said fuel prices had recently reached an “all-time high” amid worldwide conflicts, while vehicle hire and repair costs also remained high.

However, spending on routine vehicle repairs has improved, with the money spent around £100,000 lower than at the same stage last year.

Cllr Lisa Birkett said she was reassured by the report but added that fuel and vehicle hire costs within StreetScene needed to be monitored closely.

Chief finance and technology officer Caroline Hancock said the council was already ordering vehicles for delivery in the next financial year.

She said the StreetScene team was working to secure the “best value for money” from the vehicle programme.