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The Committee received and considered the comprehensive report from the Group Manager Planning.
The Planning Officer reported that the site to which the application related to was a small commercial unit located within Hemsby's prime commercial holiday area. The unit had been part of the neighbouring indoor market Clearance House but was now a separate unit within this larger building that otherwise remained in retail use. The Planning Officer reported that as the application was retrospective Officers from the Council's Environmental Health and Planning Department had visited the site during the time the unit was operating to asses the impact of cooking at the site in times of odours. The Council had issued a planning enforcement temporary stop notice to make further checks and in the interim the site owner had made this planning application. The applicant had complied with the notice and had not opened since this intervention although the temporary stop notice had expired. The Planning Officer reported that no objections had been received from the nearest residential / holiday accommodation properties regarding smells or odours or loss of amenity.
The Planning Officer reported that from the letters of objections and comments from the Borough Councillor's and Parish Council it had been stated that there were 28 food related businesses out of 52 businesses located within the Beach Road area. The location of this single storey building in a predominately commercial area with no flats above and a degree of separation meant there was not a requirement for extensive odour suppression or ventilation, a requirement of a wall mounted ventilation fan was raised by Environmental Health and this had been included in the planning application. The Planning Officer reported that it was considered that the change of use to a hot food takeaway in this location would not be harmful to the amenity of neighbouring land users or residents and would be in accordance with saved policy SHP15 of the Great Yarmouth Borough Wide Plan.
The Planning Officer reported that concerns had been raised regarding parking and highways, the site was located opposite the main private visitor car park for Beach Road and the road itself had double yellow lines along its whole length so parking outside this business as was the case with the proportion of businesses on Beach Road was not permitted, therefore on balance the proposal was not considered to generate an unacceptable amount of vehicular movements that could not be accommodated at neighbouring car park areas and was therefore not detrimental to the parking or movement of traffic in the area.
The Planning Officer reported that a number of objections from businesses were received concerning the toilet provision as the use of the site was a takeaway site with no onsite seating and all food to be eaten off the premises the Council environmental health policy for toilet provision would only require staff toilets and not public toilets, the applicant had confirmed that within land owned by his landlord a waste bin could be stored and that he would enter into contract waste collection on a weekly basis from the site.
The Planning Officer that it was important to make clear that the decision taken should be based on material planning consideration and the Town and Country Planning Act allowed for retrospective planning applications and that in considering these types of applications where some or all of the work had commenced the fact that the Councils consent was not sort prior to commencing work was not a material planning consideration.
The Planning Officer reported that the application was recommended for approval.
A Member asked how many objections had been received in total, the Planning Officer reported that a total of 11 objections had been received.
The Chairman of Hemsby Parish Council addressed the Committee and reported that out of 52 shops there were 28 food outlets in the area, he reported that when the premises had been open, cars had parked illegally on double yellow lines causing traffic chaos to purchase food from the kiosk. The Chairman of Hemsby Parish Council reported that the Parish Council was unhappy that the applicant had opened the premises prior to obtaining the necessary planning permissions.
The Solicitor Nplaw reported that all planning applications had to be judged on their merit whether they were retrospective or not. He also advised that price and competition were not material planning considerations.
The Planning Group Manager reported that there had been no objections received from the Highways Agency and illegal parking on double yellow lines was an enforcement issue and not a material planning consideration.
A Member asked whether cumulative effect was a planning issue, the Planning Officer reported that cumulative effect was a planning consideration.
Councillor Weymouth, Ward Councillor reported that the map which the Planning Officer was utilising was 20 years out of date, she reported that there was a proliferation of food outlets with 28 out of the possible 52 all selling hot food and that this application did not provide customer toilets, the parking in this area was extremely difficult and enforcement of the double yellow lines would be provided by the Council's Parking Enforcement Officers who would be slow to respond to parking issues due to the number employed by the Council, she urged the Committee to refuse the application.
A Member referred to Policy SHP14 subject to the size of the proposal the conversion or redevelopment of properties to provide class A1 or class A3 uses will be permitted in the prime commercial holiday areas shown on the proposals map objective to ensure the continued vitality of designated tourist shopping areas. The Member reported that if this policy was not current it should be removed from the agenda paper as Members needed current policies, the Solicitor Nplaw reported that all policies must be read in light of any changes and this policy must be read as being supportive to the application.
The Planning Group Manager reported that the Committee should give weight to current policies and that Policy SHP15 was an adoptive policy within the Core Strategy.
RESOLVED :
That application 06-17-0313-O be refused as it was contrary to policy SHP15 (Criterion A)
Proposals for the establishment of hot food takeaways not falling to be considered under provision of Policy SHP4 will be permitted subject to the following criteria :-
- The proposal would not create an over concentration of preponderance of class A3 uses which would significantly detract from the vitality and viability of a shopping frontage