Cllr Peter West

Green Cllr Pete West has expressed his dismay at Tory and Labour Councillors attitudes to the need for more disabled taxis in Brighton & Hove.
 
Pete - a member of the city council’s Licensing Committee which oversees cabs and taxis in the city - had sought to amend the council’s taxi licensing policy to better cater for disabled residents.  He supported a recommendation which would see the council continue to license five more wheelchair accessible cabs every year - however this was cut to two a year by Labour and Tories. Cllr West also asked that a report investigating opportunities for more wheelchair accessible Private Hire taxis should come to the committee.
 
Both Labour and the Tories voted against his proposals, despite considering new research at the meeting which showed the average wait for a wheelchair accessible cab in Brighton & Hove is 43 minutes - more than half an hour longer than the average waiting time for a standard cab.
 
Pete said:
"Why should disabled people in Brighton & Hove have to endure an almost hour long wait to get a cab, when foreveryone else it’s a matter of minutes? It¹s especially ridiculous when you consider that disabled people are far more likely to need to travel by cab than more able-bodied local residents.
 
“Getting out and about is hard enough for people with mobility problems - many of whom are elderly - and the cost of a taxi is deterrent enough. In voting against licensing five more wheelchair accessible cabs a year, the Tories and Labour have just made life that little bit harder fordisabled people.
 
“Greens believe Brighton & Hove should be a city foreverybody, not just those that can hop on a bus orride a bike around town.
 
"Recent research suggests we need at least 400 more wheelchair accessible cabs to meet disabled residents needs. Under current plans to licence just two more cabs a year, it will be another 200 years before Brighton & Hove meets that target.
 
"I'm really at a loss as to why Tory and Labour Cllrs didn't feel able to support my bid to see this city become more accessible for disabled residents and guests. Judging from the letters of support I've had from local taxi drivers branch and Brighton & Hove Federation of Disabled People, they're also puzzled."

Councillor Jeane Lepper, Deputy Chair of the Licensing Committee and Labour Lead on Licensing said;
“Labour Councillors support managed growth and that all new licenses issued will be for wheelchair accessible vehicles in accordance with our policy. The problem remains that many of these vehicles are not being used on a radio circuit and Labour Councillors are pressing for further talks with the taxi trade to address this problem.”

A spokesperson for the Council said:
“The licensing committee is an independent, cross-party committee of members, whose over-all decisions the council is duty-bound to implement, regardless of which members voted for or against a proposal.”