Taxi firm in bid to stay open all hours

A Bognor Regis taxi firm is to appeal to a government planning inspector after failing in its bid to keep its office open all night. Select Taxis in Richmond Road had applied to Arun District Council to lift conditions imposed when planning permission was originally granted eight years ago, which required the office to be shut between 11pm and 8am.

It had also called on Arun to remove a condition which stated that no taxis should park, wait, drop off or collect passengers in Richmond Road between the same times. But despite a petition by more than a hundred customers to keep the offices open 24 hours a day, the district council decided last month not to lift the restrictions.

Several letters of objection were also received about the proposals, claiming that the company 'had never met the conditions imposed' and that neighbours were 'constantly exposed to noise, disturbance, fights and screams in the early hours, with police often called to break up fights.'

Members of Arun's development control committee decided to uphold a recommendation by planning officers that the lifting of conditions would be unneighbourly, give rise to late night noise and was against Arun's policies.

The taxi firm's director Sarah Ide said that the company would appeal against the decision. 'With Bognor Regis regeneration plans we should be improving travel links rather than not helping people to get home.'

The second condition she claimed was an anomaly because Select Taxis with other ADC licensed hackney carriages were allowed to pick up and put down passengers anywhere in the district.