Thames Ditton taxi office has objectors queuing up
7:00am Monday 25th July 2011
Residents are objecting to plans to transform a former sandwich shop in their road into a taxi office.
The application to turn the former site of Crumbs, in Portsmouth Road, Thames Ditton, into the 24-hour operating office was submitted by Lynsouth Development.
Residents are concerned about the noise and disruption a 24-hour service could cause in the residential street, but the applicant said it would not be a rank, but a private hire office.
Resident Julie Royce said: “Our community value local business and enjoy good relations with the traders of Winters Bridge, but the idea of a 24-hour taxi service being run in a quiet residential area such as this is ludicrous. We don’t want it and we don’t need it.
“There are plenty of taxi services available in the village and in Surbiton and Esher.”
One letter of objection to the proposal also said residents feared the office would attract drunk people at night who would use the street as a toilet.
The letter said: “I fear with drunken people hanging around here it would become a Public WC not to mention unsafe.”
But a representative from Lynsouth Development told the Elmbridge Guardian there would be no rank at the office, meaning people would only be able to hire private cars to pick them up from their homes.
He said: “People have been using the word ‘taxi rank’ when they have objected to this application, but this is incorrect.”
Crumbs closed down in December and many people would like to see it remain a shop, but the developers representative added that because of the “difficult size” of the building, it had been hard to find anybody willing to rent it.
What do you think? Have your say below
Source; http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news ... ueuing_up/
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