Southampton’s Planning and Rights of Way Panel has approved a taxi headquarters at the former driving test centre on Forest Hills Drive, in Townhill Park. Application 26/00984/FUL is for JSY Travel. The site is not to be a rank, and passengers are not to be picked up or dropped off there. The report
Neighbours had objected to a 24-hour operation. On 1 October the firm agreed in writing that no taxi or private hire vehicle would enter, leave or be dispatched between 8pm and 6.30am. A vehicle left on site overnight cannot be sent out until after 6.30am. Office work may run from 6.30am to 10pm, and not outside those hours.
What was approved
The building is unchanged. There are 12 parking spaces. The firm says about eight vehicles would be left there overnight, mainly minibuses and larger cars used for school transport and group travel. Most cars stay with their drivers. Customers would not come to the office.
A noise-management plan has to be followed. External lighting needs the council’s approval before it is installed. A front wall and railings, cut during the application from 1.8 metres to 1.6 metres, have to be built before the site is occupied.
The driving test centre, last used in 2022, had no restriction on its hours. Highways did not object. Officers said the use should not generate more trips than the test centre did.
The neighbours
The Daily Echo reports that more than 200 people signed a petition. The officer’s report records 10 written objections. Lynne Symms, Christine Wilton and Fiona Pittaway spoke at the meeting on 13 October. Ms Symms, who lives opposite, said residents only learned at the meeting that the hours had been cut, and that the revised plan seemed reasonable. Ms Wilton called it a small win and a poor experience.
The Echo reports that the panel approved the application unanimously. Councillor Sarah Wood said the conditions on vehicle movements should answer the residents’ fears.