Decision on shop plan for pub car park delayed over road safety …
A decision on a big shop plan for a Nuneaton pub car park has been delayed over road safety concerns. As we reported in our newsletter,[1] a planning application was submitted for the erection of a single storey shop (E use class) with ATM, reconfigured car parking, cycle stands and revised access arrangements on the car park[2] of the Crows Nest pub.
Despite more than 1,500 objections, the proposal was recommended to be given the green light.[3] However, planning committee members at the Town Hall have deferred making the final decision amid major road safety concerns.
Warwickshire[4] County Council’s Highways officers said they had no objections to the proposal for the convenience shop on the pub car park but councillors said that they needed to be convinced of this.
Liral Modhwadia, who runs the family-run Costcutter with her husband Raj, led the objections to the plan, raising concerns about road safety in Raven’s Way, which is a small, notoriously busy road.
She questioned if Warwickshire County Council[6] highways’ demands for a crossing on Ravens Way, as part of a planning condition, could be safely implemented. She raised concerns about potentially two HGVs trying to get down the road to make deliveries to the new store.
The competition the shop would provide to the businesses on the parade is not classed as a planning decision: “But sustainability is,” she said.
“We believe, as a Crow Hill community, that this will reduce the sustainability of the businesses in the area. I would urge the planning department to visit the site in order for the road safety issues [to be] identified.”
The CGI shows what the new shop would look like (Image: Planning application)
Councillor Tony Cooper added his support to the objection, saying that the junction of Crow Hill Road, Raven Way and Chatsworth Road is already congested.
“This development will only make it worse,” Cllr Cooper said.
“There is a children’s nursery in the complex, parking is limited as it is, the loss of a third of public house car park and the addition of delivery vehicles will make the dropping off and picking up of children more hazardous. Can I just say, I am a local in the area and I know just how bad it can be, with congestion and parking, now and with the addition of another unit on the pub car park, it is going to make it even worse and probably dangerous.”
Cllr Julian Gutteridge, ward councillor, said: “I am against this application, why do we need another shop with an ATM machine in a pub car park? We already have these, just behind, a fish and chip shop, a butchers, a very good convenience store, a hairdressers, a chemist, a nursery and a beauticians coffee shop – so we don’t need another shop.
“You only have to look along Crow Hill Road, it has traffic calming chicanes and humps and then we expect HGVs to be able to turn into Raven Way?” He added that he has concerns about the proposed parking at the new shop, which will be on the pub car park.
“Parking will be horrendous, this is over development on a pub car park. 16 spaces and 4 cycle racks – four – that’s not enough. What about people like me with limited mobility – one disabled parking spot. Not good enough.”
Concerns about the lack of disabled parking, as well as plans to use the area when deliveries are made to the shop, were echoed by Cllr Colin Cape.
But Chris Edge, who spoke on behalf of applicant, SEP properties, said that planning officers had recommended that the application be given the go-ahead and he urged the planning members to go along with this recommendation.
“There are no outstanding objections from any statutory consultee subject to conditions, which the applicant is happy to agree to,” he stressed.
“It will provide a modern convenience store for the benefit of existing and future local residents, and to the benefit of the local centre as a whole.”
The Crows Nest pub car park, which would play home to the convenience store
But planning members said that they were struggling to understand how Highways officers had not raised any objections, given concerns about the width of Raven Way, as well as the wider congestion in the area.
Councillor Jill Sheppard said: “I don’t consider that the Crows Nest is part of the local centre, there is a clear divide with the hedges, so I don’t think that it can be counted in that local centre. Looking at viability, I don’t think that it has been properly considered that this would have considerable impact on the current centre that is already there.
“Refrigerated lorries not before 8am, say county, but that is when the most of the school children are coming back and forwards there, so I thought that would be a real conflict.
“The road, in terms of two lorries coming in and out, will be interesting as I would imagine one of them will get stuck somewhere along there.”
She explained that there are two large supermarkets in the area. “It (the proposed store) is a detriment to residents in the area and businesses.”
Cllr Emma Shiers said: “I don’t understand why we need any more shops in the area, the area does already have all the shops and facilities it needs.
“Within a short distance you have the A5 Aldi, the Co-op at Horeston Grange, the Lidl on Higham Lane, the Aldi on Weddington Road and going into Attleborough and then the shops in the town. If there was no shops in the area, it would be of benefit to the residents and the sustainability of the area, but it is not needed.”
She raised concerns about HGVs making deliveries to the proposed store will not have enough room along Ravens Way to make manoeuvres. Cllr Shiers added that county council highways officers should attend planning meetings to explain their decisions on road issues.
Cllr Jamie Hartson, who drives for a living, raised concerns about the impact on the road: “My big vans are 8ft wide, you would struggle to get two of them past each other, let alone a lorry.”
He asked if a HGV survey had been undertaken, to which a council officer said it would form part of a safety audit and that has been completed.
Sandwiched between busy roads
Cllr Kris Wilson raised concerns abut the impact on the highways network and asked if a survey had taken place about the number of vehicular movements going in and out of the pub car park now – and how this could be impacted by the proposed store.
He moved a deferment so that a highways officer can explain the traffic assessment to planning members.
“Don’t forget Crow Hill Road itself is in a big sandwich between Lutterworth Road, which is the busiest road according to the Borough Plan, and Eastboro Way, which has an awful lot of development going on it,” Cllr Wilson said.
“We need to see it all, we need to see how it impacts that network. I know as a local resident and councillor, that I can come out of Willowfields and be stuck there for 20 minutes before you even get to Eastboro Way, and that is on a good day.”
He moved deferring making a decision, which was seconded by Cllr Richard Smith. Cllr Hammersley went on to raise concerns about if emergency services would still be able to access the road during when HGVs were due to make deliveries and Cllr Cape raised further fears about the proposed delivery times.
Members unanimously voted to defer making a decision to get a county council officer to discuss the highways concerns.
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References
- ^ we reported in our newsletter, (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
- ^ erection of a single storey shop (E use class) with ATM, reconfigured car parking, cycle stands and revised access arrangements on the car park (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
- ^ the proposal was recommended to be given the green light. (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
- ^ Warwickshire (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
- ^ ‘I could never have expected this response’ – Dad of murdered Morgan Hehir on critical acclaim of About a Son book (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
- ^ Warwickshire County Council (www.coventrytelegraph.net)
- ^ here (data.reachplc.com)