Newport City Council approves taxi office on Commercial Road

The council approved the planning application for 169 Commercial Road on March 14 with conditions attached.

The property is currently used as a shop with 175 square metres of floor space. The applicant, the Mr “M Boota” who owns and runs the shop, expects to lose 15 square metres as it becomes a taxi office.

The operating hours will be restricted from 7am to 9pm, the same hours as the shop, throughout the week. Outside these times, the premises must be vacated and closed to the public.

Planning documents say  a member of Mr Boota’s family will run the taxi office in the first instance though that “could change” over time.

Only one person - a member of Mr Boota's family - will run the office (Image: Sam Portillo)

Mr Boota’s agent, Kevin Dorrington, said: “The taxi office is an office for organising taxis [sic] runs, rather than being a Taxi Rank. Its all booked on Apps and computers nowadays.

“If occasional people passing by do call in for a taxi, they will be able to order a taxi. They would then wait and the taxi pick them up.

“This would represent a very small percentage of the Taxi rides that are booked at the office.

“There will be one member of staff. Taxi’s [sic] will not be kept at the property.”

The development must begin within five years of the permission date. Before the change of use can happen, the local planning authority must also approve a biodiversity enhancement scheme.