'No way' proposed Chorley takeaway will be given extractor fan permission

A meeting of Chorley Council’s planning committee heard the owner of the property on Eaves Lane in the town is refusing to permit the proposer of the eatery – identified only as a Mr. Patel – to install the necessary flue.

Planning officers had recommended that the proposal be given the go-ahead, but suggested making it a condition of the consent that full details of the ventilation set-up were submitted to the authority for approval.

Planning permission in itself would not authorise the applicant to carry out works on a building that they do not own.

Committee member Martin Boardman proposed voting the plans through – and wishing the applicant “good luck” in their attempts to persuade the property owner to allow them to install the extraction system.

However, the committee decided to defer its decision so that members could visit the site and assess separate concerns over the potential impact of the proposal on traffic.

Chorley East ward councillor James Nevett said that the suggestion by Lancashire County Council highways officers that the lack of dedicated parking for the shop would not pose any safety problems was “detached from reality”.

He said that shared spaces in the area were already often occupied and warned that the presence of bollards in the vicinity to prevent pavement parking actually had the potential to make the situation worse.

“Cars are currently parking with one wheel on the pavement…or entirely in the road,” said Cllr Nevett, adding that emergency service vehicles have previously struggled to get through – something which he warned could be exacerbated by delivery vehicles servicing the takeaway side of the proposed business.

“Most places [where] delivery drivers pull up, often on double yellow lines or in the road, [are] far more of a nuisance than a danger. But in a bottleneck such as this…what occurs in one place as minor inconvenience would unfold here as an acute hazard.”

Committee member Peter Gabbott also detailed a history of collisions at the top end of Eaves Lane and proposed a site visit before councillors reached their final conclusion.

Cllr Boardman said he was also uneasy about the problems that could be caused by the takeaway, but noted that planning rules meant the vacant premises – previously home to P R Crompton Butchers – could be turned into any other retail operation without permission.

“Let’s say I opened a painting and decorating business, I could walk in there tomorrow and open it and have tradesmen stopping there every ten minutes to buy provisions.

“I’m minded to approve it and give the applicant best wishes to get permission to put the duct up the rear of the property,” Cllr Boardman said.

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