Issue - meetings

Variation of condition 9 (hours of delivery to service yards) attached to planning reference HGY/2007/0500 to allow operation between 0700 - 2100hrs Monday to Friday, 0800 - 2100hrs on Saturdays, and 0900 - 1800hrs on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

RECOMMENDATION: Grant permission subject to conditions.

The Committee was advised that the application site formed part of the Mall Shopping City which consisted of a covered three-level shopping mall, a multi-plex cinema, multi-storey car parks, a recently vacated petrol filling station and  service yards and residential and office space.  The proposal before the Planning Committee was for a variation to condition 9 relating to the hours of delivery to service yards. The original application included a condition implementing the hours of delivery to be outside the hours of 7am-7pm Monday – Saturday with no deliveries on Sundays and Bank Holidays, and a further application was  then received for 24 hrs delivery and this was refused planning permission. The variation now applied for was to allow operation between 0700-2100hrs Monday to Friday, 0800-2100hrs on Saturdays and 0900 – 1800 on Sundays and Bank Holidays. 

The Committee were advised that because the applicant was not proposing early morning or late night deliveries it was anticipated that there should not be much additional disturbance to residents.

The Committee questioned the reasons why the extension and need for flexibility in the delivery times had arisen, and the size of the vehicle.  In response officers advised that the applicant had expressed the need for delivery on Sundays in order for stock to be available on Mondays to meet customer demands.  It was the case that all other stores had deliveries 24/7.  Given the proximity of the site, delivery was requested up to 9pm, and Sundays/Bank holidays. 

The Committee further commented on  the effects of the increase in deliveries to the store and the fact that the variation had been requested even before the store had been completed and opened, and the fact that the goods to be delivered were non perishable.  Clarification was also sought as to the deliveries to other shops in the mall and whether it was possible for deliveries to be made to these stores from the same delivery vehicles, therefore cutting the number of deliveries in total to the Mall.

In response the Committee were advised that as the different retailers in the mall had different suppliers it was not possible to consolidate delivery services. Also the increased effect of deliveries would have no greater effect on the level of traffic and noise that residents had experienced when the former petrol station had been in use.  The Committee commented that  the noise levels from the former petrol station and noise from cars was significantly different from, and could not be compared to the noise that would result in the increase in vehicle deliveries given their size, as well as their proximity to residential dwellings.

In response to further questions the Committee were advised that the service and storage yards were the furthest away from Caxton Road, and that noise levels from idling vehicles was envisaged to be minimal in terms of residence disturbance.

Local residents addressed the Committee and objected to the application on the basis that:

·        That the proposed variation had been applied for even before  ...  view the full minutes text for item 182