Brightlingsea residents fighting claimed “unauthorised” business use of premises off Lime Street have put their grievances to the district’s top planner – but are no nearer finding out if enforcement action is to be taken.
Around 30 affected residents told John Pateman-Gee, Tendring District Counci’s (TDC) head of planning and building control of months of noise, dust and increased traffic “at all hours of the day” caused by a business operating from a garden at the rear of 19 Tower Street.
“It’s been horrendous,” said one resident at the meeting, called by Brightlingsea town and district councillor Jayne Chapman, and held in the Parish Hall on Wednesday, October 15.
The meeting heard that planning permission for use as a builder’s store on the site was granted in 1978. Town mayor Chris Pavely described the current use as being like “a sawmill” and Mr Pateman-Gee agreed that “what is going on is not just storage” and that the use was “unauthorised”.
“My position is that this should be a store and this is not that,” he added.
Cllr Chapman said: “Surely the business should be made to stop until they put in planning permission,” and questioned the time it was taking for TDC to take action.
Mr Pateman-Gee said delays were partly caused by the incorrect assumption made by a planning officer who visited the premises early this year that “the use was established”.
“That was wrong and we’ve apologised for that,” he said, adding that with co-operation, action could be taken quickly, but could take anything from two months to two years otherwise.
However, he pointed out that the council had to be careful about serving enforcement notices with incorrect information, which could lead to compensation claims. “Rather than risk that, we don’t automatically serve an enforcement notice,” he said.
To complicate matters further, Mr Pateman-Gee said that a planning application to allow general industrial use on the site had been submitted to the council that morning. For various reasons, he said the application was “invalid” but pointed out that if resubmitted correctly it could cause further delays to any action being taken while the application is considered.
One resident said they had suffered health problems from dust emanating from the site, and others complained that TDC’s environmental health department was uninterested in their problems.
Other residents complained of plots in Lime Street allegedly being used for waste transfer and the burning of waste – with one blaze requiring attendance by the fire service on the same night as a major fire at the other end of the street.
“It’s industrialisation by the back door,” said one resident.
Lime Street studio plan “not acceptable” says council
An application to change the appearance and use of a timber cabin in Lime Street to include workshop and studio use has been recommended for refusal by Brightlingsea Town Council (BTC).
Councillors said the application to Tendring District Council (TDC)for The Little Boatyard by John Street resident Clare Richmond, was “counter to our opinion of what the land should be used for”.
BTC planning committee member Jayne Chapman said: “There have been several applications for this type of thing in that part of town where both Tendring and BTC have come up with objections to any type of use other than the allocated use for storing boats and caravans.”
She added: “All appeals against refusal have been dismissed and the inspectors have come up with the same reasons – that Lime Street backs on to the coastal protection zone and a site of special scientific interest and should be protected.”
A planning statement supporting the application said: “Residential use has been refused and dismissed at appeal, but it is the applicant’s hope that this will be possible at some future point. The applicant does not intend residence at the site until such time as planning permission is granted for this.”
Essex Highways has obected, stating that “from a highway and transportation perspective the impact of the proposal is not acceptable” and two letters of objection from residents cited the risk of increased traffic and damage to the unmade road.
TDC can ignore BTC’s recommendations – the town council has no powers of approval or refusal – but in a move that strengthens its objections, BTC asked Cllr Chapman, who is also a district councillor, to “call in” the application. This means that it will have to be discussed at a future meeting of TDC’s planning committee – instead of being dealt with by planning officers – and Cllr Chapman will have the opportunity to put BTC’s case.
