COUNCILLORS have agreed measures they hope will improve the taxi service in Durham City.

The Liberal Democrat-run cabinet of Durham City Council has approved plans to issue five more hackney carriage licences for wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

In addition, a taxi rank is to be made on the slip-road to Claypath off the A690, at Leazes Bridge. It will have space for five vehicles, and will operate from 6pm to 8am each day.

The new rank will serve the Walkergate pub and restaurant complex behind Millennium Place.

The council will also lobby Durham County Council to allow taxis to use bus lanes in the city, to exempt them from the £2 road toll levied during the day for using the road to Market Place and the peninsula, and to remove the prohibition on right turns at the junction of the slip road off the A690.

The city has more than 60 hackney drivers, and the council has been holding meetings with their trade associations to look at improving taxi provision.

The council is also to commission consultants to do a survey on current provision, and how the "structured deregulation'' of limits on licence-holders can be achieved.

The study, which could cost up to £10,000, will include consultation with operators and passengers and should be completed in six months.

Council legal director Lesley Blackie told the cabinet: "It is police policy to facilitate an improved and quicker dispersal from the city centre of customers leaving licensed premises, and the proposed increase in taxi numbers will assist in this connection.

"The provision of an additional taxi rank, and amendments to the Claypath rank, will enhance the provision of taxi ranks near the Walkergate development, leading to a safe and efficient transport option for visitors to the development.''

Councillor Carol Woods, cabinet member for environment and leisure, said: "We urgently need more taxis in Durham city, and it's not just about providing hackney taxis, it's about providing a good service across the board, including private hire vehicles."

* Two years ago, the city's cabbies defeated the council's plan for all hackney vehicles to be painted white.