LICENCE FEES SCRAPPED: No fees for taxi drivers with fully electric cabs in Malvern Hill District

Licence fees for taxi drivers with fully electric vehicles in the Malvern Hills District will be scrapped to encourage more people to go green.

The plans, which were approved by Malvern Hills District Council's Executive Committee on 18 January, will see a waiver scheme implemented for the application fees to licence a vehicle as a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle where the vehicle is fully electric.

The current cost of an annual vehicle licence fee is £285 for Hackney Carriage Vehicle Licence and Private hire vehicle licence.

The proposal, originating from the combined Wychavon and Malvern Hills District Council's Carbon Reduction Panel, aims to provide an incentive for licence holders to transition towards fully electric vehicles from those fuelled by petrol or diesel.

The waiver is set to start when the council's fees and charges for 2022/23 take effect in April 2022 and it would then be reviewed annually.

Cllr Tom Wells, Portfolio Holder for Community Services at Malvern Hills District Council, said: "This licence fee change will hopefully work as an incentive to encourage taxi drivers to think about their carbon footprint and to go fully electric. It is part of the council's vision to go carbon neutral as quickly as possible, but by 2050 at the latest"

Objections to the licencing fee change can be made within 28 days and if any are received during this period, they will be considered at a future Executive Committee meeting.