Hundreds of pounds of support will be introduced for low-carbon cab owners in Basingstoke and Deane next year.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has agreed that, from April, it will waive two years’ worth of licensing fees for extra low-emission private hire vehicles, saving their owners up to £300 per licenced vehicle.

It follows its launch last year of a scheme offering £5,000 grants to help local taxi drivers buy ultra-low emission hackney carriages. Eight of these electrically powered vehicles will soon be regularly pulling up at Basingstoke train station’s taxi rank, after another application was recently approved.

An all-time high number of 492 licensed taxis was recently recorded in the borough, with almost one in three being electric, extra-low emission or hybrid vehicles.

The council’s aim is to encourage their owners, when they are replacing these vehicles, to consider going for a more environmentally friendly option.

Cabinet Member for Climate and Ecological Emergency Cllr Chris Tomblin said: “This initiative, when it comes in next April, will make it free to license low-emission private hire vehicles in the borough for two years.

“Our support will save their owners up to £300 per vehicle, supporting the local taxi trade. It will also give residents and visitors more environmentally friendly ways to get around that help to keep our air cleaner and cut the borough’s carbon too.”

The council will not charge fees from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2028 to license private hire vehicles that emit no more than 50 grams of carbon per kilometre from their tailpipes. Vehicles meeting this standard are typically hybrid, hydrogen or electric.

The initiative supports the council’s climate goals, following its climate emergency declaration in 2019.

Information about the council’s licence fees is at www.basingstoke.gov.uk/licence-fees

Taxi drivers can apply for a £5,000 grant towards the cost of an electrically powered hackney carriage at www.basingstoke.gov.uk/electrically-powered-hackney-carriage-grants