DARLINGTON BOROUGH COUNCIL PLANNING APPLICATIONS COMMITTEE COMMITTEE DATE: 14 March 2012 Page APPLICATION REF. NO: 11/00715/FUL STATUTORY DECISION DATE: 11 January 2012 WARD/PARISH: Heighington and Coniscliffe LOCATION: Plants Garden Centre, Station Road, Piercebridge DESCRIPTION: Erection of garden centre retail building, cafe and extension to existing car park and alterations to existing entrance to the site (Amended plans received 21 December 2011; Additional Information received 29 December 2011; Amended plans and Tree Report received 16 January 2012; Additional Information received 17 and 23 January 2012; Amended plans received 22 February 2012; Additional Information received 27 February 2012) APPLICANT: Sam Turner And Sons APPLICATION AND SITE DESCRIPTION The application site is an existing garden centre and nursery on the B6275, which is accessed off the A67 road. The overall site measures 1.16 hectares and it consists of a retail building, glass houses, display areas, storage areas and associated parking spaces. There are residential properties on the north boundary (The Sidings); the east boundary (Juniper House) and on the south west boundary (West View). Station House is located to the north east of the application site on the opposite side of the B6275. Piercebridge Village is approximately 400 metres to the south. The site has been operating as a garden centre and nursery since the mid 1980s (see Planning History) but the applicant has recently acquired the site. The proposal involves: The erection of a 1050 square metre Garden Centre building which would house retail sales areas; a storage area and a café area; Realignment and extension to the existing car parking areas; Alterations to the existing access to the site off the B6275 The hours of operation for the centre would be 0800 to 1730 weekdays except for Thursdays (0800 to 1900) and Sundays (1000 – 1400). The retail goods from the site would be a mix of garden supplies, farm supplies, country clothing and garden machinery such as lawnmowers, APPLICATION REFERENCE NO 11/00715/FUL PAGE chainsaws etc. It is anticipated that the centre would create the equivalent of 16 – 20 jobs involving 8 – 10 full time jobs and the remainder being part time and occasional season workers. The applicant has carried out Community of Statement Involvement exercise with the occupiers of the immediate dwellings. Following this exercise, the design of the proposed building was modified to be a predominately single storey structure with a parapet flat roof area to the rear to screen any potential kitchen extraction systems for the internal café area PLANNING HISTORY 8/83/756/DM In January 1985 planning permission was GRANTED for the erection of a greenhouse for retail sales, formation of a plant display area and associated car parking 05/00883/CU In December 2005 planning permission was GRANTED for the conversion of redundant boiler house to form dwelling and erection of detached garage PLANNING POLICY BACKGROUND National Policy Planning Policy Statement 4 – Planning for Sustainable Economic Growth Borough of Darlington Local Plan 1997 E2 – Development Limits E4 – New Buildings in the Countryside E12 – Trees and Development S22 – Garden Centres Darlington Core Strategy Development Plan Document 2011 Policy CS1 - Darlington’s Sub Regional Role and Locational Strategy Policy CS2: Achieving High Quality, Sustainable Design Policy CS7: The Town Centre Policy CS8: Additional Retail Provision Policy CS9: District and Local Centres and Local Shops and Services Policy CS14: Promoting Local Character and Distinctiveness Policy CS15:Protecting and Enhancing Biodiversity and Geodiversity Policy CS16: Protecting Environmental Resources, Human Health and Safety Policy CS19: Improving Transport Infrastructure and Creating a Sustainable Transport Network Other Documents Design of New Development Supplementary Planning Document (2009) RESULTS OF CONSULTATION AND PUBLICITY Three letters of objection were submitted from the occupiers of neighbouring dwellings in relation to the original submission and the concerns can be summarised as follows: A seventy seat café, which is approximately 20% of the floor area of the building, is disproportionally large when compared to the café at their much larger operation in Northallerton. An outdoor seating area is also planned – is this a café with a retail outlet? We note the Sam Turners in Stokesley has no café at all APPLICATION REFERENCE NO 11/00715/FUL PAGE The outdoor area is adjacent to our own existing seating/outside living area (The Sidings) which would render this useless during opening times Any café will have a serious detrimental effect on our quality of life due to additional noise during opening hours. The café, kitchen and toilets are all adjacent to our boundary. In addition to this any chillers, extracts, air con etc will probably be running 24/7. Noise will be intrusive in this environment where background levels are significantly less than in a normal urban environment. Even if piped away cooking smells, odours and noise will be carried back again in the direction of our outside living area due to the prevailing wind. The requirement for a café on this site is not essential to the success of this business as their Stokesley site demonstrates. There are adequate café, pub and restaurant facilities in Piercebridge which is within walking distance. This is a seven day a week operation and we would like some respite from the increased noise of the enlarged business and would therefore object to any late night opening or any other extended hours of use The building will be visibly intrusive as it will be higher and many times larger than the existing greenhouse as well as being a more industrial type structure Any additional lighting required should not increase the level of light pollution The sheer size of the development will have an adverse impact on our quality of life (Juniper House). Longer trading hours, a café with 70 indoor covers plus outdoor covers will alter the nature of the business and will lead to significant increase in traffic, noise pollution and odours from food preparation. A development of this size is totally out of character with property in the area Such a size would inevitably increase traffic flow which is already high on a B road. The closure time proposed would pass what could be deemed social hours with regard to noise levels in the area A letter of objection has been received from the Farmway Limited and their concerns relate to: Sam Turners has not listed or identified many local competitors which already exist and give excellent customer service. To claim there is little overlap with Farmway is fundamentally incorrect. There is significant overlap Although Farmway do not operate a café we are aware of numerous local cafes and farm shops serving food and drink in the locality. There are also several specialist machinery outlets within the locality and only recently one such business closed Farmway sell the full range of safety equipment and oils It is difficult to understand how bird feed and feeders, chicken coops, dog kennels are classified as horticultural supplies. With the exception of plants, trees and shrubs Farmway sell all the products listed (in the Supporting Information with the submission) Farmway is an agricultural supply company and for over 45 years have supplied the agricultural community with their requirements. All the product listed under Agricultural Supplies are currently stocked an sold by Farmway. Clothing is included in the range of products we sell. England & Lyle have also submitted a letter on behalf of Farmway and the contents can be summarised as follows: If planning permission is granted any such approval should be made subject to a condition that would robustly restrict the range of goods capable of being sold from the premises to those type of goods that are appropriate to its function as a garden centre. APPLICATION REFERENCE NO 11/00715/FUL PAGE The condition should exclude those items that are not appropriate to a garden centre and which would be more appropriately sold by outlets within existing town centres. Failure to do so would mean that the development would conflict with the Core Strategy policies CS7, CS8 and guidance in PPS4 concerning the need to protect the vitality and viability of the existing town centre and the development would be unacceptable in planning terms. The owner of a café business and farm shop operating from Piercebridge Farm has submitted a letter and the contents can be summarised as follows: The proposals will have an adverse effect upon the viability of our café business which has been established for twelve years, having been developed from a family run farm. When our permission was granted there were restrictions made so that there was no conflict of interest with other local businesses The proposals would undermine the viability of our business and put in jeopardy the jobs of our staff of which reside locally There is an overlap to our own unique and diverse business which will affect our well established services to the village and surrounding area. The proposed use is a complete change from the original greenhouse grown plants which developed into a compact garden centre. The proposal is to develop a very large café which is not in proportion to be a service for plant buyers and clothing buyers. This is a large out of town café which will increase the volume of traffic to already dangerous cross roads Our own café can seat up to 25 in the winter and up to 40 in the summer using the outside space. Also in addition within ½ mile radius there are other eating and refreshment establishments that could account for a minimum of a further 150 covers If our footfall decreases it will have a domino effect upon the whole of the many faceted services we provide.