Agenda item

Full application for Change of use of part of existing garden centre (Class E) to use Classes E, F1 & F2 – Retrospective at Silverwood Garden Centre, St James Road, Long Sutton (report of the Development Manager enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Development Manager upon which the above application was to be determined, including their recommendations, copies of which had previously been circulated to all members.

Members debated the matter and fully explored the details of the application in light of prevailing policies and guidance, with the following comments being raised:

• Members raised concern that the site notice for the planning application had been placed within the site rather than on the edge and felt some nearby residents may not have been aware of the notice.
  • Officers confirmed that a notice had been correctly displayed, and neighbour notifications had also been issued in line with statutory publicity requirements. There had also been several public representations received as detailed within the report.
• Members noted that the application was retrospective, and the buildings had been in place for a number of years. The clarification of the classification for those buildings on the site was an appropriate step.
• Members asked whether a condition could be added to restrict the buildings to be solely used for community purposes and if this use were to cease, another planning application would need to come forward to change the use.
• Members asked whether there had been any complaints about noise and nuisance on the site.
  • Officers confirmed that Environmental Health had not raised any concerns in this regard.
• The Men’s Shed did a lot of good work for wellbeing in the area.
• Members queried whether the permission sought applied to the entire site or just the two identified buildings.
  • Officers confirmed that the Classes F1 and F2 use would only apply to the two identified buildings, the rest of the site would still fall under Class E.
• Members asked for an explanation of the three use classes E, F1 and F2.
  • Officers responded that Class E covered a lot of different uses under the retail umbrella. Class F1 covered the provision of education, and the Men’s Shed provided training sessions under this class. Class F2 encompassed a hall or meeting place for the principal use of the local community.
• The reclassification put each building in its rightful place and restricted the hours of operation

The full debate was not repeated here as a livestream of this Planning Committee Meeting could be viewed on South Holland District Council’s Facebook page for a limited period of time, in line with the Democratic Services Privacy Notice.

Councillor Brewis requested that his abstention from voting on the application be recorded in the minutes.

AGREED:

That permission be granted subject to the conditions outlined at section 9.0 of the report, with an additional condition being added to restrict the use of the two identified buildings to classes F1 and F2.

(Moved by Councillor T Sneath, Seconded by Councillor Bingham)

Oral representations were received in respect of the above application in line with the Council’s scheme of public speaking at Planning Committee meetings:

Objector: David Wilson (Resident)