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Fees for vehicle licences and operators' licences.

A district council for an area to which Part II of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 19761 applies may charge such fees for the grant of vehicle licences2 and operators' licences3 as may be resolved by it from time to time and as may be sufficient in the aggregate to cover in whole or in part4:
(1) the reasonable cost of the carrying out by or on behalf of the district council of inspections of hackney carriages5 and private hire vehicles6 for the purpose of determining whether any such licence should be granted or renewed7;
(2) the reasonable cost of providing hackney carriage stands8; and
(3) any reasonable administrative or other costs in connection with the foregoing and with the control and supervision of hackney carriages and private hire vehicles9.
The fees chargeable10 must not exceed the specified maximum11 or, in any such case, such other sums as a district council may, subject to the following provisions, from time to time determine12.
If a district council determines that the specified maximum fees are to be varied it must publish in at least one local newspaper circulating in the district a notice setting out the variation proposed, drawing attention to certain specified requirements13 and specifying the period, which must not be less than 28 days from the date of the first publication of the notice, within which and the manner in which objections to the variation can be made14. A copy of the notice must for the period of 28 days from the date of the first publication be deposited at the offices of the council which published the notice and must at all reasonable hours be open to public inspection without payment15. If no objection to a variation is duly made within the period specified in the notice, or if all objections so made are withdrawn, the variation must come into operation on the date of the expiration of the period specified in the notice or the date of withdrawal of the objection or, if more than one, of the last objection, whichever date is the later16. If objection is duly made and is not withdrawn, the district council must set a further date, not later than two months after the first specified date, on which the variation must come into force with or without modification as decided by the district council after consideration of the objections. A district council may remit the whole or part of any fee chargeable in pursuance of the above provisions for the grant of a licence in any case in which it thinks it appropriate to do so.

UPDATE
1086 Fees for vehicle licences and operators' licences
note 5—A district council, before granting a licence, has the power under the 1976 Act s 70 to impose charges for the inspection of a vehicle, without specifying a maximum sum, and such charges may increase with each failed inspection: Kelly v Liverpool CC [2003] EWCA Civ 197, [2003] RTR 326.