Agenda item
375 Cable Street, London, E1 0AH (PA/13/02251)
- Meeting of Development Committee, Wednesday, 12th February, 2014 7.00 p.m. (Item 6.1)
- View the background to item 6.1
Proposal: Variation of condition 3 of planning permission granted by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 30th March 2011, reference APP/E5900/A/10/2141935/NWF, LBTH reference PA/07/03290, to allow opening hours from 9am - 10pm Sunday to Thursday and 9am - 11pm Fridays and Saturdays.
Approved Hours: 9am - 9pm Sunday to Thursday and 9am - 10pm Friday and Saturday
Recommendation: That the Committee resolve to REFUSE planning permission for the reason set out in the report.
Minutes:
Paul Buckenham (Development Manager, Development and Renewal) introduced the item regarding 375 Cable Street, London for a variation of condition 3 of planning permission granted by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 30th March 2011, to allow opening hours from 9am - 10pm Sunday to Thursday and 9am - 11pm Friday and Saturday. The approved hours were: 9am - 9pm Sunday to Thursday and 9am and 10pm Friday and Saturday.
Emma Davidson spoke in objection to the proposal as a local resident who lived opposite the premises. She expressed concern about the adverse impact on the residents quality of life generally from the takeaway, particularly from the litter, noise and anti-social behaviour (ASB).
She considered that the outdoor wheelie bin, required under the planning condition, hadn’t been there for 18 months and there were no waste bins outside the premises. She explained the concerns with youths congregating outside the shop causing ASB. The residents, particularly the elderly, were very frightened of this.
If granted, the residents quality of living would deteriorate even further (especially the elderly and shift workers trying to sleep at night).She did not consider that the extension was needed as there were many other late night takeaways nearby. No Officer from the relevant Authorities supported the extension. She requested that the proposal be refused.
The Committee sought clarity on the problems with rubbish. Ms Davidson stated that there was rubbish on the streets. She stated that she had contacted the Council many times about the lack of rubbish bins outside the shop and the collection arrangements.
Members also asked about the availability of evidence to show that the takeaway was the cause of the problems. Ms Davidson commented on the likelihood of this, given the proximity of the premises to the litter and ASB. There were chicken bones in her garden and people congregating outside her door. She expressed concern about the management’s attitude to addressing the concerns as shown by the lack of an outdoor wheelie bin. She considered that the bin could go some way to addressing the problems. However, it would not deal with the ASB issues.
Charles Copeland spoke in objection as a local resident. He also expressed concerns about the harmful impact on the neighbours quality of life from the shop generally. He considered that all key agencies agreed that the premises trading hours should remain as present to safeguard residential amenity. He quoted from letters from the Planning Inspectorate and various Council Planning Officers saying this.
Rakesh Kataria spoke in favour of the application on behalf of the applicant. He considered that was no evidence to demonstrate that the activities from the takeaway had caused any harm in terms of noise, ASB, youths loitering around and drug dealing. Anyway, the management had a zero tolerance approach to such behaviour and would work with the Council to address any issues. Council Officers had visited the shop a number of times to leave bins outside the premises and had extended the lease to 11pm. The applicant cleaned the outside area regularly. There were a number of similar premises in residential areas with late night opening hours. So the proposed hours fell within the accepted hours and should not attract customers to the area after they had closed.
Mr Kataria stressed the need for the extension to satisfy the wishes of his customers, including families. They have regularly asked that the shop open later, save them walking further late at night. There was a petition with over 190 positive signatures.
Members sought clarity on the likelihood that young families would buy food from the shop late at night. Mr Kataria considered that, whilst there were no statistics supporting this, he was basing his comments on the feedback. The applicant did provide bins outside the premises. There was signage asking customer to respect residents amenity.
Officers confirmed that the reference to the increase in the hours of the lease to 11pm was quite separate from the planning permission.
Piotr Lanoszka, (Planning Officer, Development and Renewal) presented the report. Mr Lanoszka explained the location of the takeaway in Cable Street and that the surrounding area was mainly residential. He explained the close proximity of the shop to residential units, the location of the nearby Town Centre and the hot food takeaways. The site had good transport links. He explained the scope and outcome of the local consultation that had resulted in 69 individual objections, 31 supporting representations and a petition in support. He explained the extensive planning history to the application including the outcome of the successful appeal. At which, the Inspectorate concluded that the application should only be granted with the current terminal hours to protect residential amenity.
In summary, Officers considered that the proposal, if granted, would have a harmful impact on residential amenity. Therefore, in accordance with policy, Officers were recommending that the extension in hours be refused.
Members asked questions about the number of formal complaints about the establishment. Officers confirmed that the objections were mainly from residents and anecdotic in nature. Environmental Health had not made any objections. The Police had not made any comments.
Members asked questions about the measures to enforce the closing hours, if approved, given the previous breaches. It was felt that any further incidences could mean the shop opening even later, under this new permission. Officers gave assurances that any breaches of Planning control would be investigated by the Council’s Enforcement team in the usual way and that the Committee must consider the merits of this application.
The Committee also discussed the merits of granting the permission on a trial basis.
On a vote of 2 in favour of the Officer recommendation, 4 against and 1 abstention, the Committee RESOLVED:
That the Officer recommendation to refuse the variation of condition 3 of planning permission (PA/13/02251) at 375 Cable Street, London, E1 0AH granted by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 30th March 2011, reference APP/E5900/A/10/2141935/NWF, LBTH reference PA/07/03290 be NOT ACCEPTED to allow opening hours from 9am - 10pm Sunday to Thursday and 9am - 11pm Fridays and Saturdays.
The Committee were minded to approve the application due to the following reasons:
· The lack of formal evidence that the premises was responsible for anti-social behaviour and that the extended hours would cause harm to the amenity of local residents.
- The number of similar premises that operated with late night hours.
- To consider the option of a temporary consent with alternative hours (for example a closing time of 10:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays).
- That, in view of the current economic climate, it was important to support a local family run business.
In accordance with Development Procedural Rules, the application was DEFERRED to enable Officers to prepare a supplementary report to a future meeting of the Committee setting out proposed detailed reasons for approval and conditions on the application.
(The Members that voted on this item were Councillors Helal Abbas, Anwar Khan, Judith Gardiner, Tim Archer, Rajib Ahmed, Gulam Robbani and Harun Miah)
Supporting documents: