The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham calls for devolved powers on taxis to fix a broken national taxi system
He makes the announcement as figures show one local authority dominates taxi licensing across England, with nearly half of private hire vehicles working in Greater Manchester now licensed ‘out of area’
The Mayor says England’s ‘broken taxi system’ must be fixed to make his city-region’s fleet amongst the safest and most trusted in the country.
Launching a new campaign ‘Backing our taxis: Local. Licensed. Trusted.’ in Manchester city centre, he outlined the call for the government’s English Devolution Bill to both devolve power on taxis to Mayoral Combined Authorities and put a stop to ‘out of area’ licensing.
Figures show that more than 11% of England’s private hire vehicles are licensed by one local authority, City of Wolverhampton Council, up from below 0.5% less than a decade ago.
In Greater Manchester, nearly half (49%) of private hire vehicles are now licensed by authorities outside of its ten councils. The city-region’s out of area figure of more than 12,000 has risen sharply from just under 7,000 in 2023.
As well as greater devolution on the issue, the ‘Backing our taxis’ campaign also calls on the government to support drivers to make the switch to greener, more accessible vehicles easier, with recommendations to extend the VAT exemption to new wheelchair accessible taxis; extend the national Plug-In Taxi Grant for electric vehicles; and reduce the rate of VAT on public electric vehicle charging.
Mayor Burnham has also announced a review of Greater Manchester’s current approach to licensing, supported by a 12-week period of engagement with the taxi trade.
It was kick-started today with a roundtable with key trade representatives. The period will involve online questionnaires, in-person surveys with drivers and in-depth interviews with both trade representatives and those involved in local licensing.
