A retrospective planning application to allow general industrial use in a builders yard in Lime Street, Brightlingsea should be refused, town councillors have said.
Nearby residents have complained that the site, at the rear of 19 Tower Street, creates noise, dust and increased traffic “at all hours of the day”. A petition objecting to the application is said to contain 190 signatures.
At a meeting with residents in October, town mayor Chris Pavely described it as being like “a sawmill” and John Pateman-Gee, Tendring District Counci’s (TDC) head of planning and building control, said that the work going on in the yard, which as permission for storage use, “not just storage” and that the use was “unauthorised”.
A statement submitted with the application to TDC says that proposal is for the retrospective change of use to general industrial for the whole site and for retrospective permission for a single storey unit. It proposes restricting working hours to 9-5 on weekdays and 9-12 on Saturdays, with no Sunday or bank holiday working. The statement said that the site is “vital to the local economy to support small businesses” as the units are “rented to various tenants who wouldn’t require or warrant a full site”.
A noise impact report accompanying the application stated: “In order to be neighbourly it would be sensible to close doors [of the work units] during noisy operations,” and added that the area “is already exposed to noise from the nearby boat yards and light aircraft”.
However, Brightlingsea town council’s planning committee says that the proximity of the site to residential properties “may cause both physical and mental distress to local residents’. It says that there are alternative sites with permission are available on the nearby Shipyard Estate.
Other objections include the fact that the area is not designated for employment use in the Local Plan, and that the site is close to Coastal Protection Belts and the Grade 1 listed Jacobs Hall in the High Street
Essex County Council’s highways department has said that the proposal is “not acceptable” because the unmade road – which it describes as a public footpath – is too narrow for vehicles to pass, or for pedestrians to stand aside. It also raises concerns about access for refuse and emergency vehicles.
The department states that if permitted, the proposal “would set a precedent for future similar developments which would lead to an increase in vehicle movements detrimental to the general safety of all highway users and undermine the principle of seeking to discourage the intensification of private vehicular access along the extent of the public footpath”.
Brightlingsea Town Council can only recommend that TDC planners refuse the application, but it has requested that the application is “called in”. This means that it should be discussed at a future TDC planning committee meeting, where objections can be raised by one of the town’s district councillors.
