Tuesday 25 May 2010

Development Control – Local applications

Dinting Viaduct
Dinting Viaduct,
originally uploaded by Pimlico Badger.
Last night’s development control meeting featured a number of application from the local area, some possible welcome, others not so.

Starting off with the possible welcome or less contention, there was an application from Glossop Caravans to replace the building lost in last December’s fire, this was approved by the committee.

This was followed by the renewal of a previously approved application from JD Williams in Hadfield for the erection of a high bay warehouse, to replace existing buildings, which was again approved.

Also up for discussion and approved by the committee was an application for the replacement of the Hadfield Clinic on Wesley Street in Hadfield.

In the less welcome category (at least by some local residents) was an application for part of the former Wild and Hallam showroom at Brookfield. The application was to convert part of the site to a trailer fabrication workshop with showroom and sale area, with a hand car wash on the forecourt.

Whilst most application that look at providing jobs are welcome, in this case there has being a number of complaints from local residents mainly around the operation of the car wash, on pollution and advertising concerns, there were however some locals supporting the application welcoming the reuse of the site. In the end after discussion it was approved, with some additional conditions being requested around ‘fencing’ on the site to reduce some of the ‘pollution’ issues.

Last up in this brief resume of applications that were discussed by last nights development control committee was an application over the parking site next to Dinting Station. This application was for conversation of the site from its current parking use, to 24 units of affordable housing.

Now to some locals (as flagged here, here and here) this latest application to convert the site to something else is no surprise, with there being a number of previous suggestions flagged up in the local papers, since it’s conversation to a car park a number of year’s ago, and by implication of the conversation the area changed from being a no / low chance of building green field site to a much more likely for development brownfield site.

The application was recommended for refusal by officers at the council, for a variety of reasons including loss of open countryside, poor design and whilst the application was for affordable housing which would be welcome, there are other better sites within the existing boundaries of Hadfield and Glossop that should be considered first.

The application was considered by the development control committee most of whom will have received additional details from the developers for the site that included such gems as an infrequent Sunday service on the 397 – infrequent because it doesn’t run on a Sunday ! However in the end the development control committee agreed with the officer’s recommendation and refused the application.

Now whilst the application was refused yesterday I don’t expect that will be the end of things with this site and it will be interesting to see what comes next as in the past we've had golf ranges, industrial use, car boot sales and I seem to recall a crematorium at some point.

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