THE number of taxi drivers could be falling in Basildon, its council says, sparking fears for the "vital" transport service.

Basildon Council is currently "experiencing loss" of taxi and private hire drivers, according to new council documents. It comes as the council is due to consider taxi licensing fees for the next financial year.

The documents state that increasing the rates could hurt the industry and cabbies even more, with fears about "possible" further loss. Taxi and private hire drivers pay for licensing and the related assessments, which can at times change as part of the council's budgets. Local council's set the fees for the licenses for taxis.

Cllr Andy Barnes, leader of the Basildon Conservatives, raised concerns about the impact of the numbers reducing. He said: "I think it affects people's access to travel, I know for a lot people access to cabs is vital, it's essential.

"There are also knock-on implications for people who have children in special needs schools. Any knock-on from the ability of cabs will have consequences for residents across the board. We may need to look at making sure cabbies are not disadvantaged for going down the private hire route."

Councillors will discuss the rates on Thursday (5 March) at a licensing meeting.

Documents state "there is concern that increasing fees will discourage existing licence holders from re-applying in the short term." The council papers also say rising the costs would see anger and push back from the drivers. It would mean an increase two years in a row.

The documents also state the income each year for the council from the fees and rates is about £100,000. The papers say: "It would not be advisable to increase the taxi and private hire fees as we would be likely to not only encounter a challenge from the trade as a result of an increase two years in a row, but also possibly lose further licensed vehicles and drivers.

"Any change in fees to taxis would require advertising in a local newspaper and the cost of doing so would not justify a nominal/modest increase at this time."