Hi there, welcome aboard! We recently secured planning permission for a new private hire HQ despite objections from the hackney trade operating from nearby ranks. Their objections included the negative impact our operation may have on their work and the fact that they considered there was already adequate provision for taxi services in that area.........

We employed the services of a professional planning consultant who was able to advise us that competition and adequate service were not planning issues. He looked into the Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPGs) for the area and the Unitary Development Plans (UDPs) and presented a convincing argument as to how these matched our proposed development. If we had planned to use our HQ as a FRONT DOOR, for customers to approach and get a car then that would have impacted negatively on traffic flow past nearby residents. This would have constituted a planning issue but we convinced the councillors that the public would be barred from our site. Despite the cynicism of hackney drivers using nearby ranks, we have no intention whatsoever of breaching this condition. The last thing we want is mobs of drunken rabble congregating all over our beautifully landscaped site, let them discard their chippy wrappers at the front of the nearest hackney rank!

My advice? Hire a planning professional, preferably somebody who used to work in the planning department that has gone private to bat for the other team so to speak. They will be able to guide you towards relevant factors. Two kebab shops or shoe shops can live next door to each other so I don't see why two private hire firms can't provide the same healthy competition for their customers. They presumably saw fit to ok planning for the first taxi office or have they been there for that many years they never had to get permission?

Some other factors to consider... will your proposed office provide more jobs? Is your company policy to recruit locally? What measures have you taken to reduce the carbon footprint of your new proposal? Will you be using energy saving light bulbs and computer monitors? Will the potential increase in cars result in a bigger, more efficient fleet thereby reducing the effects of global warming? These are all considerations that central government wants your local councillors to consider.... Good luck!

By that I mean the legal distance between competiting Operating Sites, anyone have any ideas?