COMMUNITY spirit rose up to defeat plans for new cab office in East Finchley which had been recommended for approval by planning officers.

An application to change the use of a former estate agents in High Road, into a mini cab office had led to an outcry from more than 250 residents, who claimed the business would be detrimental to the street scene of East Finchley, the village culture and traffic levels in the area.

They said roads were already congested due to the number of shops in High Road and the extra itinerant traffic would bring no intrinsic interest to the area. There were also concerns there may be increases in late night anti-social behaviour if people are loitering around the office after leaving the pubs.

The council consulted 114 neighbours and received 23 letters of objection, one of which was a petition signed by 234 people.

Michael Mcmenemy organised the petition and said it would have been much larger if there had been longer to circulate it.

He said: “There was a very strong feeling that we didn’t want it.

“Living in East Finchely is almost like being in a village community and we wanted to keep hold of that.

“Customers in the shops were completely indignant at the thought of this cab company encroaching on their village life.”

An agent representing the applicant told the Finchley and Golders Green area planning sub-committee meeting on Tuesday that the business was in fact more of an elite chauffeuring service than a taxi cab company.

He claimed drivers would not have parked in the streets surrounding the office, which is currently abandoned, as they would be serving the whole of North London and it would not have been viable to just park in East Finchley.

The application to the council said a GPS system would be in all the cars to ensure “a smooth running environment for customers, drivers, and staff in busy residential roads around East Finchley”.

Council planning officers advised councillors to approve the plans, subject to conditions, adding: “The council do not consider the change of use to pose any impact on the vitality and viability of the East Finchley Town Centre.”

The conditions included ensuring no driver connected with the cab business visits the office to wait around, take orders or collect clients, and there should be no collection of passengers within a 100 metre radius.

But East Finchley Labour ward councillor, Colin Rogers, said the conditions were “contradictory, unfeasible and difficult to enforce”, and the office would be to the detriment of the community.

The application was rejected by committee members on the grounds that the “activity, noise and disturbance” would severely impact on surrounding residents.

Paul Thompson, of Huntingdon Road, spoke at the meeting and said campaigners wanted to ensure a “safe, positive and valued community” was maintained in East Finchley.

“This shows the old East Finchley spirit is still there,” he added.

“The decision is fantastic news because the whole area would have been affected.

“The plans would not have been in line with the community and everybody has been in support against them.”

Chris Hansom, also of Huntingdon Road, said: “There have been a number of things happen on the High Road which we were opposed to and I think it shows how strong the community is around here.

“Whenever there is an issue we all put our head above the parapet to fight it.”