Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning)

The Committee received a report seeking permission for the change of use of an existing commercial unit from Class E to sui generis, including the installation of an extraction flute to the rear of the building and internal reconfiguration to accommodate the new takeaway business.

It was noted that the proposals had been amended during the course of

the application to include the details of the proposed plant location and removal of the alterations initially proposed to the shopfront.

The application was presented to the Development Management Committee

because Councillor Moore and Thompson had called in the application for the following reasons:

1.    It had attracted unusually high level of public interest.

2.    The application raised sensitive planning issues in the Conservation Area and vicinity close to two schools.

3.    the impact on neighbour amenity from the proposed takeaway use and its opening hours.

Jonathan Angell spoke against the application as follows

“I'm one of 20 residents have objected to the application, the majority living within about 200 metres [of the application]. It is not difficult to see why local residents are concerned. In reality, Marsden Road parade is much smaller than other neighborhood centres and the shops are very close on all sides to residential properties. I can't emphasise that I think that it's a bit disingenuous to say that they are 10 and 18 metres away. There are gardens that are much closer to that. Several residential properties overlook, or about the shops and the extract fans will vent essentially into the garden. I think if it was 189 Handside Lane to the rear of the shops.

So various concerns are being raised in the 20 objections, including the smell from the extract fans, litter which will inevitably be deposited all over the place by people eating their fish and chips and also by people who are walking back to school or home so the bins in the area I don't really address that problem. There is general disruption from having a shop unit open until 10 or 10.30pm in a predominantly residential area, and again I would just emphasise that quite a few properties abut the property orthey overlooking it. There's inevitable noise and anti-social behaviour but just to focus on the parking and highways issues.

I understand that you now are aware of the objection has been received from the at the parking officer and they highlight various significant concerns about increased parking demand in and around the location, and it seems really surprising that these concerns weren’t mentioned explicitly in the planning report.

The shops on a busy junction between Handside Lane and Marsden Road, and since there are parking restrictions in the area, residents and their visitors often park outside the shops, so the number of available spaces, despite what that photo suggests, is generally very limited and people visiting the shops often double park or they park on the verges in breach of planning restrictions.

As the parking service made clear, a fish and chip shop would exacerbate considerably the existing parking problems and it would also create much greater risk for pedestrians and cyclists, including elderly residents, and I would just mention that there are lots of elderly residents in the area including or residents of local housing association properties in in Marsden Road and I'm told that they are very concerned about this proposal.

Finally, clearly this unit does need to be brought back into use, but what's disappointing is that, as far as I can tell, there has never been any attempt to market the unit to find a more appropriate use, despite the requirement in the Local Plan to market actively for 12 months before a change of use will be considered. With the right marketing and a bit of an initiative, I'm sure that a better use and a more appropriate use can be found for this unit.”

Councillor Moore addressed the Committee as follows

“I called in this application due to the significant amount of public interest in the proposal for a takeaway at this location.

I, along with my ward colleagues, are very supportive of more independent local businesses starting up in the area and it would be great to see the empty unit put back into use. However, due to the location of the unit on this a residential street, it's important it is a suitable type of business for the area. I have a number of concerns with the that this application, my first concern is parking. Parking is already a significant issue in the area. Marsden Road and the surrounding roads have parking restrictions in place and there are a limited number of parking bays outside the shop. The current convenience store located next to the proposed site attracts a number of customers and parking is in high demand.

It is not unreasonable to assume that the proposed business will partner with delivery companies such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats and I'm not confident they would be able to park safely.

Marsden roads are narrow road and the number of parked cars make it difficult to navigate already as residents have reported to us. They have experienced shoppers parking over their driveways to pop into the shop or struggle to find parking. Earlier this year, the local Councillors held a residents' meeting on parking, but the impact from inconsiderate parking from parents as local schools and Stanborough Park was discussed. A takeaway business would add pressure. It is important to note that these concerns were also raised by the Borough poignancy and nervous wants the application.

Also the impact on the local environment, I am also concerned, along with another of residents, on the impact of increased litter in the vicinity and popular walking routes such as the route Stamper Park, I did speak to the Environmental Services team about the provision of additional bins at the site and I was told this would be reviewed but there's no way of managing letter or placing bins outside of the shopping area with increased litter, particularly food waste.

The likelihood of additional pests such as rats is enhance the units back onto residential gardens, so any additional activity from pests would directly impact residents'. Concerns have been raised regarding the noise and ventilation from the equipment within the shop have. I do note that the planning application has added I note on this matter. There will be monitoring if the application is approved that the condition is enforced to protect the local residents.

My final concern is the impact of operating hours the local convenience store closes at 8 p.m. A business operating later than this time is out of keeping with the area, and the additional noise from customers and vehicles would disturb the neighborhood. Therefore also being a likely to increase in anti-social behaviour. In my view, the impact of all these aspects is such that on budget I do not think the application as presented should be approved”

During the discussion, the following points were raised:

·         A member felt that parking would not be an issue as many food delivery services use bikes and mopeds.

·         The extraction flute would be mounted to the existing flat roof at the rear of the application.

·         Officers clarified that there were no allocated parking for the previous facility and the shop already in place. The bays outside the units would serve the neighbourhood centre.

·         It was clarified that there were a range of uses which the unit could currently be without needing planning permission such as a café or creche.

·         Officers clarified that the application had conditions regarding the opening hours of the unit.

·         A condition had been proposed for a waste management strategy and bins were already located in close proximity of the site. It was noted that the Planning process could not control human behaviour.

RESOLVED

(5 For,  4 Against, 1 Abstain)

The Development Management Committee granted planning permission subject to the recommendations set out in the report.