Agenda item

Change of use from office accommodation to car dealership, formation of new vehicular access door, re-fenestration of showroom windows, new roof and provision of new upstand fascia board.

The Committee considered a report of the Planning Officer regarding the change of use from office accommodation to car dealership, formation of new vehicular access  door, re-fenestration of showroom windows, new roof and provision of new upstand fascia board at Ness Furniture Ltd, Croxdale, Durham, DH6 5HT (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Principal Planning Officer provided the Committee with a detailed presentation which included photographs of the site and a plan of the proposed layout. Members of the Committee had visited the site and were familiar with the location and setting.

In referring to paragraph 40 of the report, Councillor J Clark queried whether the entry and exit for the transporters would be compromised should housing be developed on the remaining land at the site. She further queried whether the transporter arrangements were just for the new Subaru dealership or would it also apply to the existing Citroen dealership.

The Principal Planning Officer clarified that the possible future housing scheme would be subject of a future application and the Planning Authority would have control over any changes to the site. Members were further advised that the transporter arrangements could only be required for the new dealership, though there were no current highway issues in relation to transporters attending the Citroen dealership. Councillor Clark envisaged problems occurring. Transporter drivers would know that they could offload on the main highway for the Citroen dealership and so may do the same for the Subaru dealers, rather than driving the lorries onto the site.

Councillor A Bell queried whether it would be possible for double yellow lines to be placed on the main highway to prevent such issues occurring. The Highways Officer advised that yellow lines prevented waiting only and not loading restrictions. Furthermore, loading restrictions were not helpful near to a commercial development which needed to operate. Statistics from the accident database indicated that there were no recorded accidents anywhere in the county over the last 10 years which could be attributed to a parked transporter on a highway. Members were also advised that it was still possible for 2 way traffic to pass on that highway even when a transporter was loading or offloading and indeed a parked transporter could have a calming effect on traffic speed.

Councillor Lethbridge advised that he regularly used the highway adjacent to the application site and on the site visit earlier that day there was a transporter parked on the highway. While it had not seemed to pose any real problem, Councillor Lethbridge was unaware of the frequency of deliveries to the site by transporters. However he acknowledged that the company was a longstanding business which was good for the area. He therefore moved that the application be approved. This was seconded by Councillor Davinson who felt that the proposals would be an improvement on current arrangements.

Resolved: “That the application be approved subject to the conditions detailed within the report”.