NEIGHBOURS have raised their concerns over proposals to turn part of a public car park in Colne into a taxi private hire base.
If given the green light, the development would see eight spaces within the Stanley Street car park designated to Escort Taxis between 6pm and midnight daily.
During this time, up to 12 operational private hire vehicles from the New Market Street Firm would use the site, which according to Pendle Council consists of 30 parking spaces.
A letter was sent to 24 homes around the Stanley Street area over the weekend, and several residents have already voiced their fears over parking problems for residents and local businesses, as well as noise levels.
Piano teacher and mum-of-three Avis McNamara, who has lived on Derby Street for 27 years, described her shock when she and her husband Jack received the notification.
She said: “The car park on Stanley Street is on our back street, if you will. We park on it.
“Should there be anything on at the Hippodrome, it is full for the whole week that the production is on in the evenings.
“Everybody is really objecting to it.
“It won’t just make a difference to us. It will make a difference to everybody that uses that car park.
“I will be furious if it goes through.”
And in an online statement from Pendle Council’s website, one objecting Stanley Street resident has stated: “We have to park our cars on that car park overnight, and sometimes through the day, as our street is always full of cars stopping us parking outside our house.
“Also, we do not want drunks, noise, pizza boxes etc outside our house, and where we have to park our cars. Therefore we object.”
While residents have also stated their fears that the taxi firm would start to use the car park at all times of the day, spokesman for Escort Taxis, Mr Feroz Ghafoor, assured that drivers would not use the site before 6pm.
He also feels that no difference would be made to noise levels in the area or to residents parking.
He said: “We would use the car park from 6pm, when it is empty. There won’t be any noise.
“The council has already done a survey on the car park, and there were only 10 cars on there after 6pm.”
A Pendle Council spokesman said that all residents comments and concerns will be considered at the same time as the planning application. Decisions are usually made within six to eight weeks.
