Councillors stand over decision to refuse taxi office at empty unit at row of Derry shops

By Ciaran O’Neill

Councillors have stood by a decision to refuse planning permission for an empty unit at a row of shops in Derry to become a taxi office.

Skeoge Taxis had sought planning permission to open an office at the row of shops on the Greenhaw Road.

Planning officials at Derry City and Strabane District Council had recommended that the planning application be approved.

The application came before a meeting of Derry City and Strabane Council’s planning committee last month at which councillors voted not to accept the planners’ recommendation and refused the application.

The meeting was told that 129 people living in surrounding streets such as Greenhaw Road, Danesfort Crescent and Hampstead Park had sent letters of objection to the local council’s planning department.

The issue was again discussed at a meeting of the council’s planning committee at the Guildhall on Monday.

A planning official told the meeting that there had been concerns from residents about noise and traffic problems if the taxi office was allowed to open in the unit.

However, the official said that Transport NI had not objected to the application.

The official added that any concerns about late-night opening of the proposed taxi office would have been an issue for the licensing department of the council.

The official said they had recommended approval of the planning application because they believed there was no policy reasons for refusing it.

However, given the councillors’ opposition to the application, the planning official said they had proposed a ‘suggested reason’ the councillors could use for refusing the application.

This, the official, stated that the proposal would ‘unacceptably affect the amenity of occupiers of neighbouring properties due to an increase in traffic congestion in the area and an increase in traffic generation to and from the premises’.

SDLP councillor John Boyle said the application had been debated in detail at last month’s meeting and that he believed the reason put forward by the planning official for refusing the application was ‘more than adequate’.

Sinn Fein councillor Christopher Jackson said he was also satisfied with the reason put forward.

The matter was out to a vote and eight Sinn Fein and SDLP councillors voted to refuse the application.

Three unionist councillors voted to agree with the planners’ recommendation that the application be approved.