Some weeks ago we were contacted by a group of residents from the area around the Cod on the Rocks chip shop in Broad Road in Blackhall Rocks regarding works intended to extend the business.
We met with the residents and listened to their concerns about the potential development. These included parking, traffic and access issues along with potential problems associated with noise and effluence emissions which could affect the streets around the takeaway. Residents were also quite alarmed that the owners had begun internal and external renovation works without the benefit of planning consent.
We immediately contacted the planning enforcement team at county hall and asked them to visit the site to assess the impact of any proposed development. We also asked them to advise the owner to cease works immediately pending planning consent.
Once a formal planning application for the extension had been submitted we met with residents to agree a way forward in opposing it on detailed planning grounds as identified above. Along with people living in the area who would be adversely affected by the development we wrote to the planning officers at county hall setting out our opposition to the applicant's plans.
Yesterday we received notification from the planning team that the application had been refused on the issues we had raised along with residents. While we feel some sympathy for the applicant we note that these works could well have gone ahead without planning consent had we not become involved with residents. Ultimately though we are pleased for the residents nearby who will not now have to suffer the consequences of an unwanted development. This also illustrates the benefit of residents working closely together with their local councillors to express their concerns on local issues.