Residents ‘know what they're letting themselves in for’ living next to a bar, warn coucillors as new bedsits approved

Chorley Council’s planning committee heard concerns raised on behalf of The Cosmopolitan, on St. George’s Street in the town centre, about a bid to turn the premises next door into a six-person house in multiple occupation (HMO). The two-storey townhouse most recently functioned as offices.

The Cosmopolitan, which has been trading for more than a decade, is licensed to operate and play music within its first floor bar until 2am.

The landlord of the building - who said he was also representing his tenant, the owner of the food and drink venue - warned committee members that the revamp posed a “risk [to] a family business”, which employs around a dozen people.

Mohammed Ghafoor told the meeting at which the HMO proposal was given the green light that a noise assessment undertaken as part of the planning application had been carried out on a weekend when none of the usual events regularly hosted by the business - such as birthdays, weddings and other parties - happened to be booked in. As such, he said, the survey should be considered “inaccurate and invalid”.

He also claimed that “no improvement” had been specified to the windows and doors of the next door building, adding: “With my experience and expertise [as a building surveyor], I can assure you the noise transfer from the courtyard [of The Cosmopolitan] and from customers entering and exiting the bar late [at] night…would create a category 1 hazard under the homes’ health safety rating system to the occupier of the proposed HMO.”

However, council planning officer Iain Crossland said the authority’s own environmental health team had sought to understand, via the noise assessment, the sound levels emanating from the bar - and then “identify what mitigation measures might be required to maintain an adequate level of amenity for those people that go on to live in [the converted] property”.

“Once that mitigation has taken place, the residents ought not to be affected in a negative way,” said Mr. Crossland, adding that the noise survey had been carried out across a 72-hour period from a Friday to Monday lunchtime.

Papers presented to the meeting stated that the installation of a “stud wall” would ensure noise levels were kept within required limits.

Committee member Alistair Morwood said while he was “not entirely convinced” that acoustic protection would resolve all the potential issues, “residents who are going to [move into the HMO] will know exactly what they’re going to go into”.

“It’s a good use of the property. Yes, it’s going to be noisy ..so it’s up to the residents to decide whether it’s too noisy for them or not,” Cllr Morwood said.

Fellow member Craige Southern said the fact that The Cosmopolitan was well established should also work in its favour in the event of any noise complaints, because “the restaurant and bar was there long before [any new residents]”.