PLANNING STATEMENT

FOR

Sherwood Forest Visitors Centre

Sherwood Forest,

Edwinstowe,

Mansfield,

Nottinghamshire.

NG21 9HN.

Continuation of Planning Permission for Existing Temporary Toilet Block attached to Forest Table Restaurant

Setting:

Sherwood Forest visitors centre is located off the B6034 Swinecote Road. The site area has a large car park and the visitors centre has been developed over the years to provide the Sherwood visitors centre we know today. The visitors centre is set within Sherwood Forest and has various boundaries all fenced.

The Sherwood Forest visitors centre was built to provide facilities for the public on a site of historic and natural interest. The Centre also has a restaurant (Forest Table),shops and information centre,

The Problem:

The temporary planning permission for this structure expires in March 2016. The building is still in place and in use.

The restaurant can be heavily used in peak periods such as weekends and school holidays and for evening events. Without the attached toilet block visitors would have to cross the courtyard to use the detached toilet blocks some distance away – 30m. At night there is no external lighting. This isn’t desirable for a catering outlet especially one that is heavily used by families and the elderly.

The attached toilet block is an essential unit for the Forest Table restaurant. The restaurant has a very erratic pattern of visitation, and a large proportion of visitors arrives by coach (and can arrive at the Forest Table in parties of 50+). This means that whilst the Forest Table often has spare capacity, at peak times the existing toilets are not ideally located (see statement above) and therefore the provision of the temporary toilet block to the rear of the restaurant is ideal.

The Solution:

To address the problem, the Client Department wishes to extend the toilet block use for a further 3 years, thus providing customers with toilet facilities that they have become used to. It is expected that at the end of a 2 year period a new visitor’s centre will have been built elsewhere and the area occupied by the centre including the toilet block will have been returned to its original state of wood-heath as part of the demolition and remediation of the current visitor centre complex; this is subject of a separate planning application. A 3 year period is being sought to provide a cushion in case the new build project overruns for any reason as the existing centre will remain open until the new one is ready.

Impact on the surrounding area would not be changed.

Appearance:

Please see attached details and Photographs.

Scale:

The proposed Shed/kiosk is located as indicated and described on the submitted on drawings 27422 BL 3085/1, 3085/2 and 3085/5.

Landscaping:

There will be very little impact on the existing landscaping on the site as the proposal is within the existing paved areas.

Access:

The existing site access and access to the buildings is unaffected by the proposal.