Found this report on the Brighton meeting on the Brighton T&G site:
Tim Nichols introduced his report to the committee and asked that the current system of limited plate issue be reviewed. He added that it was his opinion and that of his department that the current system had served Brighton & Hove well in recent years.
Most members of the committee then gave their views on the report and the question of plate limitation. Below is an abbreviated account of those views and comments made.
Georgia Wrighton (Green Party) stated that she continued to receive reports that it remains difficult to get a cab on Friday or Saturday nights. However most councillors disagreed stating that they had noticed plenty of cabs available at all times of the day.
Councillor Kevin Allen (Labour Party) stated that he instinctively supported delimitation, and although he admitted that he did not use cabs very often he stated that the argument for limited numbers needed to be put more convincingly before he could support it. He went on to say "After all when was the last time anyone managed to hail a cab in the street". Councillor Allen found himself isolated on this point because immediately he asked the question a number of hands were raised and most agreed that they regularly hailed cabs in the street and experienced no difficulty in doing so.
Councillor Kevin Allen continued to say that he was disappointed that the report contained too many unsupported "may" words and drew particular attention to Paragraph 4.9 which refers to a number of potential outcomes which he believed were unsupported. He stated that the report does not mention the expense of conducting surveys. He finished by asking why they should feel paternal to the taxi trade and argued that there are plenty of other small businesses that do not survive if they are unprofitable.
Linda Hyde (Conservative Party) spoke strongly in favour of the report and for maintaining the present system. She proudly claimed to use taxis regularly and reported that she had never experienced difficulty in obtaining a taxi. Mrs Hyde continued by saying, "Taxi drivers are in a risky business and we must look after our drivers"
Geoffrey Theobald (Conservative Party) stated that he uses taxis and he makes a point of speaking to drivers who consistently tell him that the additional £1.00 charge at weekends has driven down the demand for taxis during those times. He concluded by saying that he agreed with Linda Hyde and he supported the retention of the limitation policy.
Jeanne Lepper (Labour Party) stated that she and her husband were such regular users of taxis that they now have an account with a local company. She told of bad experiences of taxi usage elsewhere in the UK and declared that she believed that in Brighton & Hove “We have got it just about right”.
Mrs Lepper stated that she took comfort from the knowledge that in Brighton & Hove we maintain the highest standards in drivers, vehicles, and availability. She left the committee in no doubt that she fully supported the report and the retention of the limited numbers.
Simon Williams (Green Party) stated that he supported managed growth although he was concerned that if the next unmet demand study may not be acted upon quickly enough if an additional requirement was considered necessary.
Vince Meegan (Labour party) stated that he believed that the proposed changes in the licensing laws will result in an increase in demand and he feared the current system would be unable to cope change.
David Watkins (Lib-Dem) supported the present system and stated that delimitation could lead to the status of the licence being devalued. He further stated that there are plenty of taxis.
Don Turner (Labour Party & Chair) stated that he did not want to see a situation where any “old-banger” could be put on the road and used as a taxi.
It is with some relief that we can conclude that Mr Turner and most other members of the Committee appeared to be well briefed and understand the clear benefits of plate limitation. When the time came to vote on the issue I counted nine votes in favour of retaining plate limitation and no votes against.
http://www.brighton-taxi.org.uk/LicCom6Jan.htm
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