Decision details

To approve the proposed wording for vehicle emissions policy.

Following the taxi and private hire licensing policy consultation that was carried out earlier in the year, it was felt that the zero emissions approach may be too high a standard.
Another consultation will be carried out with cabinet members, GCC decarbonisation team, CBC’s air quality team and the CBC’s climate change team for a period of 4 weeks to gather the views of those parties.
Revised wording is:
‘The authority will only licence new hackney carriages from 1st January 2030 where they are ultra-low emission or zero emission vehicles. Ultra-low Emission Vehicles (ULEVs) produce less than 75g/km of CO2 tailpipe emissions and have a zero-emission range of at least 10 miles. It is proposed that 1 January 2030 is the date from which new vehicle licence applications would no longer be accepted for vehicles emitting 75g/km of CO2 or more.
This lead period gives time for the trade to prepare, whilst allowing other neighbouring licensing authorities time to consult on and approve this requirement, ensuring a level playing field in the industry across the county and wider regions. If this is approved, there will be a review of the situation in 2029. If other Gloucestershire licensing authorities have failed to implement a restriction on non-ULEVs vehicles, then it will be recommended that the policy should not be implemented. This is because the authority’s own policy will simply be circumvented by the trade ‘licence shopping’ and applying elsewhere. Thereby, the authority will lose control of those working in the Borough and emissions would not be reduced. The authority will proactively work to encourage neighbouring authorities to implement the same ULEZ or zero-emission vehicle policy’.

To continue with a 2030 date for zero emissions which may be difficult to achieve both in costs and infrastructure.
Consultation is a statutory requirement. Seeking adoption without consultation will place the authority at significant risk of legal challenge.