West Suffolk Council drop plans for all taxis to be wheelchair accessible in Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill and Newmarket

The requirement for all new taxis to be wheelchair accessible has been dropped by West Suffolk Council.

The council’s cabinet agreed to a proposal removing all wheelchair accessibility requirements from hackney carriages yesterday, overturning a stipulation that all applications for new carriages must be for wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs).

The cabinet also accepted proposals to merge existing taxi zones A and B, and to change the ten-year age limit on all taxis to 15 years. The ten-year limit was agreed in 2020 and due to start in 2025.

Taxi Zone A currently covers former Forest Heath District Council and Zone B covers former St Edmundsbury Borough Council.

Councillor Andy Drummond, cabinet member for regulatory and environment, which includes taxi licensing, said: “I am pleased cabinet have agreed to these changes.

“We have listened to both the taxi trade and its customers, including people who identified as having a disability or mobility issues.

“Our previous policy required all new or replacement vehicles to be WAVs. But an independent survey found that wheelchair accessible vehicles weren’t suitable for the needs of all disabled people and that a balanced fleet was required.

“A policy due to come in in 2025 meant that all vehicles would need to be replaced when they reached ten years old.

“Analysis of the age of the fleet suggests that a very large proportion of licensees would need to replace their vehicles to adhere to this policy – including one third of WAV drivers.

“This may have resulted in a reduced fleet size and could have caused unmet demand.

“While the council is committed to achieving a greener and more accessible fleet, it is recognised that the charging infrastructure needs to be improved to support this, as does the availability of electric WAVs.

“Increasing the maximum age of vehicles to 15 years will remove those taxis emitting the highest carbon emissions from the roads in 2025, while allowing more time for advancements in electric vehicle charging technology, infrastructure, and vehicle options to be explored.

“While the merging of the zones is a permanent change, the other changes are interim measures to allow more time for the council to consider and develop plans to achieve an accessible, safe, green and thriving fleet.”

A survey of 155 people in West Suffolk with disabilities and other needs impacting taxi use found that 43 per cent of hackney carriage and 49 per cent of private hire users felt there were enough or more than enough WAVs, while 32 per cent of hackney carriage and 28 per cent of private hire users felt there were too few.

More than half of respondents to the survey, published in a January 2022 review into taxi zones and WAVS in West Suffolk, needed walking sticks or crutches.

The proportion who used a wheelchair some or most of the time was 31 per cent, and 18 per cent used a wheelchair all of the time.

Cllr Drummond suggested zone merger would spread out WAV provision so it meets demand across the district.

The January 2022 review found it is currently unevenly split between two zones, with the fleet in Zone A including just under 12 per cent WAVs and the proportion in Zone B just over 48 per cent.

Jason Crooks, a Haverhill taxi driver, said: “West Suffolk Council have gone from one extreme to another.

“The first extreme was that every taxi had to be a WAV, and the new extreme is that there’s no policy in place to keep some WAVs.

“Obviously 100 per cent is no good at all because it is not sustainable, but we have got to have some WAV provision written in the rules.

“Saloon taxis without wheelchair accessibility are so much cheaper than WAVs, so drivers will replace with them.

“Within two months of this policy even, I’m certain you will see the numbers of saloon taxis rise and WAVs fall.

“The council’s fallback position is always ‘We will review it in two and a half years.’ Well, I think a lot of damage will be done by then.

“I do not believe the council has thought it through.”

A survey of 103 taxi drivers in West Suffolk, published in the January 2022 review, found that 60 per cent believed there were more than enough WAVs to meet demand, 27 per cent thought there was just the right number and 6 per cent believed there were too few.

Some 97 per cent of drivers did not agree with the policy that all new and replacement hackney carriages must be wheelchair accessible. Around 40 per cent of comments against this stated that customers preferred saloon vehicles as they had difficulty getting into larger WAV vehicles.

The agreed changes to are due to come into effect in Autumn 2022.