By Liz Fowler

A MONTROSE taxi firm that has been in business in breach of a planning condition seems set to be given the green light to continue.

Owners Mr and Mrs P. Campbell are seeking permission for a retrospective change of use of the former stables in Commercial Close, off Western Road, to a taxi dispatch office and garage with radio mast.

A taxi office and garage has been operating from the close since 1995.

However, planning permission for change of use granted at the time was approved only in the name of the original applicant, Robert Deans.

The new application, to be considered by councillors on Tuesday, is to formalise the use of the premises by Mr and Mrs Campbell, who have been sole operators of the business for the past eight years, three of them with the previous owner as a silent partner.

The situation was brought to the attention of the planners in April 2006 and the Campbells submitted a retrospective application for change of use in September that year.

However, it was withdrawn in January 2007 as the nature of the business operations required the use, for access, of common land not included within the boundary of the premises.

The current application was not submitted until planning authority intervention and the threat of enforcement action.

No external alterations are proposed other than retention of the existing radio mast and the planners are recommending councillors give approval for the business to continue.

The business essentially operates as a 24-hour control/dispatch office, with an integral garage for maintenance and repairs to the taxis.

A total of eight full-time and four part-time drivers and five radio controllers are employed, with eight taxis in operation.

The application has been advertised as a bad neighbour development, due to its location in the Montrose conservation area.

However the head of environmental and consumer protection has offered no objection, subject to conditions including no uplift of customers from the premises and the use of the garage to be limited to the daytime.

Two letters of representation have been lodged, with the main concerns of neighbours relating to traffic movements and congestion of vehicles in the communal close, disturbance to residential amenity, the hours of operation and related noise at unsocial hours.

The Campbells have pointed out the hours of operation have been voluntarily restricted following development of new houses in the nearby former print works.

They also said all drivers take their cars home with them and only small works are undertaken in the on-site garage, with more major repairs at other garages.

“The local plan policies emphasise the importance of maintaining a viable and diversified town centre which offers a variety of functions and land uses,” says Angus director of infrastructure services Eric Lowson, in his report.

“Certain activities can by their nature cause external disturbance to other neighbouring properties.

“But this does not mean that such uses should be prohibited, merely that the uses should be controlled in such a way as to minimise any detrimental impact on adjacent activities.”