What the bloody héll is the rationalé for moving the taxi queue in the Market Place?

The 'rationale' is that the Market Place is traffic free. New Rank in Cheap St/Market St somewhere, I think.

Do you not tell your driver where to pick you up?

But it isn't traffic free at 19:00, and no, I like to walk to the 'rank'.

What crap idea to move the rank!

The taxi's should be allowed to pick up in the Market Place. Either that or the council need to heavily promote where the new ranks are.

PS. Not everyone is able to ring a cab / book a cab in advance.

I'll thank you, but 'my driver' is not a 'cabbie'...... tsk tsp

Hey, was that you in the pink six-wheeled Rolls? How fab.

Not pink, and not six wheels......... Different gender too for that matter!!!!

Nosey Parker.

Getting back to topic, I am sure there was a great deal of advance publicity, and debate in NWN about the removal of the taxi rank.....

But if you don't buy or read the NWN.........

And I believe there was a consultation on the WBC website. OK, some don't have access to www, but what network of information should there be so everyone can say they had a chance to know what was coming?

Why are the council not properly pushing the new ranks? For the record, can somebody post them here?

Maybe the taxi drivers could have mentioed it to their fares over the last month or so, they're not usually so reticent.

Not saying there should be an network of information? Why should the taxi rank be singled out for special WBC consideration? Just follow the normal WBC procedure .... taxpayers don't need to know!

Interesting to see what suggestions people have other than the local media and the www, which you have already mentioned.

It still doesn't make it a good idea!

Today at 14:00, the market place looked like a barren waste of space.

Yes - but I bet the cobbles looked pretty!

Well we had a good view of them.

OOps

Enough said!

Come on User, time to update that page me thinks!!! I know there is a rank at The Wharf and the top pf Northbrook Street, but where else?

Page 3

Is that the only reference you can find? I'm not sure the majority of people in West Berkshire will get to read the "Taxi Trade News) document.

While I know what the arrangement is, I'd like to know who thought it a good idea! The Market Place now is effectively a BIG pavement with few pedestrians.

Well, it does refer to a WBC document.
With the WBC website out of date it isn't easy to find better info. It hardly aids the use of the taxis, even in a small town like Newbury, if people cannot find where the ranks are. Even worse when the 'official info is wrong.

I think I have seen some signage in the Market Place

So that they can move the market to Northbrook Street and finally kill it off, and all the bars and cafes can have loads of empty outside tables and chairs. Which was what was sopposed to happen when the Market place was resufaced, but how can you have an area called Market Place and not have a market on it.

Look here you! If you and the other forum members would stop criticising WBC then his time would not be taken up trying to deflect all the criticism and he would have time to do these sort of unimportant, cause no one reads it, jobs wouldn't he?

No doubt a consultation has taken place, again I am unaware of it, and it was unanimous that it would work.

For consultation read: "We asked round the office but no one uses the taxi rank so it does not matter"

Where have you seen plans for this? I've not seen anything.

I think that you are mistaken here. Most of the market traders (whats left of them) would prefer to move to Northbrook Street. In the time that the refurbishment took place in the Market Place and the market moved to Northbrook Street trading was significantly better there. It was WBC that refused to allow a permanent move to Northbrook Street and in fact reneged on the agreement with the market that it would remain there over the Christmas period, citing traffic issues.
Whether the market will survive in a reasonable form where it is now is debatable and would certainly do better in Northbrook Street.
The name is largely irrelevant. Think of Market Street where the livestock market used to be.

On the actual topic of Taxis;

I drove through Newbury town centre last night on one of my cruises to McDonalds car park (har har no I wasn't actually so spin on that one) and there were a whole rank of taxis from outside the club further on from the Post Office, right around the corner, halfway down to KFC.

Kind of daft really, but oh well.

Why daft?

Because it blocks the road for the non knobby road users (as in, non taxi-ists)

A taxi driver was complaining that 'foreigners' were parking there to attract trade. It seems this starts a chain reaction. They get moved on, but they return later.

Just put the bloody rank back where it is meant to be I say.

Any link between the queue and the refurb of The Wharf rank? or is that over now?

Most of the taxi drivers are foreigners so what are they moaning about?

I am using more palatable language than that said. I think the insinuation was out-of-towners.

Again, like most taxi drivers.

How do you know that?

'Cause when I go out for a crooze I see them?

I assumed that's what you meant. How can you tell someone is foreign just by looking at them?

Because you.... wait a minute, I'm not falling for that trap!!

I've found the plans for the new taxi ranks on this link.
taxi consultation

Cool, well done for finding this. Appears that the taxi drivers who campaigned against the changes were informed aout the consultation, judging the amount of objections that the council say they recieved?

https://www.engagespace.co.uk/westberks/con...layMode=Results

Well regardless, I don't like it and I see the move as a nonsense.

Not many people like it. The taxi drivers themselves campaigned against it, yet according to the consultation, there were no objections. Strange.

I find it suspicious the result is published before the start of the consultation period....

Start: Mar 3, 2011 End: Mar 24, 2011 Results Published: Jan 1, 2001




Perhaps by the time that the 'proper consultation' started they were too knackered from all the bickering and arguing that they forgot to actually lodge a formal objection? With these sort of things council's legal team have a statutory obligation to consult with representative bodies. Maybe this is one of those situations where it was "I thought YOU were doing it?" "Nah, I thought YOU were doing it!" and nothing gets done.......

From what I hear the day they were told about the closure of this rank they held meetings with Newbury town council, Tvp and WBC but were not listened too... I understand Tvp also had objections - namely increased violence.

It was pushed through by some guy called Mark Cole at WBC (anyone know who or what he does?)

Anyway I have put a poll on the forum to see what people really think.

Whatever you might have 'heard', according to those dates they had three full weeks to raise an objection. As it was a proper public consultation then it would have been advertised in the paper and is normally advertised on street for those 3 weeks. These consultations are open to ANY road user (not just taxi drivers or their associations) and so any individual could have written in and objected. Even 'Angry of Hungerford' could have written in to complain...

Nobody bothered at the time.... No point getting all excited about it now is there? That's like complaining about Labour getting in Govt when you couldn't be ar$ed to turn up at the polling station.