Initial Climate Change Impact Assessment (Form created August 2021)                                                                                     Appendix H

Environment

The intention of this document is to help the council to gain an initial understanding of the impact of a project or decision on the environment. This document should be completed in consultation with the supporting guidance. Dependent on this initial assessment you may need to go on to complete a full Climate Change Impact Assessment. The final document will be published as part of the decision-making process.

Licensing

If you have any additional queries, which are not covered by the guidance please email climatechange@northyorks.gov.uk

Title of proposal	Review Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy
Brief description of proposal	The purpose of this report is to agree the adoption of a revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy.
Directorate	Environment
Service area	Licensing
Lead officer	Simon Fisher and Gareth Bentley
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the impact assessment	None

The chart below contains the main environmental factors to consider in your initial assessment – choose the appropriate option from the drop-down list for each one.

It is proposed to revise the Council’s existing Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy.

The proposed policy incorporates the new Best Practice Guidance published by the Department for Transport and seeks to enhance the availability of wheelchair accessible hackney carriage vehicles in North Yorkshire.

The proposed revisions include introducing a new requirement for all new applications for hackney carriage vehicle licences to be in respect of either a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV), a zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) or a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) that meets the Euro 6 standards for emissions.

Remember to think about the following

It is necessary to continually revise the policy to take account of national guidance and any changes in local circumstances. The public sector equality duty has been considered in drafting the proposals and will continue to be considered throughout.

Research indicates that there is a shortage of licensed wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) in North Yorkshire, and this is supported by comparisons with national data. As is the case in many parts of the country, the demand for wheelchair accessible hackney carriage vehicles is not currently being met by the licensed trade in North Yorkshire.

The proposed revisions are intended to enhance the availability of licensed wheelchair accessible hackney carriage vehicles sufficiently to satisfy the demand for accessible services.

Alternative options have already been explored to encourage more wheelchair accessible vehicles to be licensed in North Yorkshire by waiving the licence fee and relaxing the age limits on WAVs. However, the number of hackney carriage WAVs in North Yorkshire remains very low and there is no reasonable expectation that this will change without further intervention.

Alternative options have subsequently been considered to address the shortage of wheelchair accessible vehicles (including imposing a mandatory wheelchair accessible requirement on all licensed vehicles). The current proposal, however, is considered a more reasonable and proportionate measure to satisfy the Council’s public sector equality duty and its air quality obligations without imposing unnecessary regulatory burdens on businesses.

Further measures (including provision of information relating to passengers’ rights and the Council’s approach to dealing with complaints) are proposed to enhance the quality of the service offered by the licensed trade to all passengers with or without disabilities.

Travel

No.

Construction

Data storage

Use of buildings

Potential for adverse impact

Don’t know/No info available

Yes

No

Change of land use

√

Opportunities for recycling and reuse

√

Environmental factor to consider	For the council	For the county	Overall
Greenhouse gas emissions	No effect on emissions	No Effect on emissions	No effect on emissions
Waste	No effect on waste	No effect on waste	No effect on waste
Water use	No effect on water usage	No effect on water usage	No effect on water usage
Pollution (air, land, water, noise, light)	No effect on pollution	No effect on pollution	No effect on pollution
Resilience to adverse weather/climate events (flooding, drought etc)	No effect on resilience	No effect on resilience	No effect on resilience
Ecological effects (biodiversity, loss of habitat etc)	No effect on ecology	No effect on ecology	No effect on ecology
Heritage and landscape	No effect on heritage and landscape	No effect on heritage and landscape	No effect on heritage and landscape

If any of these factors are likely to result in a negative or positive environmental impact, then a full climate change impact assessment will be required. It is important that we capture information about both positive and negative impacts to aid the council in calculating its carbon footprint and environmental impact.

√

Decision (Please tick one option)	Full CCIA not relevant or proportionate:	√	Continue to full CCIA:
Reason for decision	The Council has committed to reviewing the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy with a view to making hackney carriage and private hire services more inclusive and the Council must have regard to the Department for Transport’s Best Practice Guidance.
Signed (Assistant Director or equivalent)	Callum McKeon
Date	06 February 2026