COUNCILLORS TOLD TO ‘THINK ABOUT THE COMMUNITY THAT YOU SERVE’ IN PLANNING ROW

A furious resident has made an impassioned plea for councillors on Salford’s planning committee to ‘think about the community that you serve’.

Steve Lyon was objecting to the conversion of a small ground-floor apartment into an office and a second, related application for an extension to an adjoining restaurant and external extraction flue in one of the city’s prime residential areas. Both are from the same applicant, Paul Sweeney.

Mr Lyon, along with other residents surrounding the building on Worsley Road in Swinton and backed by local councillor and Conservative group leader Coun Robin Garrido, said there is nowhere for any workers at the office or customers for the restaurant to park.

He argued that there were so many empty offices in Salford saying: “There’s no one in those buildings any more. People are working differently now [since the pandemic] so why do we need another office?

And he alluded to parking problems all around Worsley Road, including Stott Road, which he said was also used as rat run to avoid traffic by other road users. 

“There are 17 objectors to this particular proposal,” he told councillors on Salford’s planning and transportation regulatory panel. “Does that not tell you that we don’t want it and we don’t need it?

“We need housing. I’ve done a search on Right Move and there are 146 office spaces in the locality.

“How many affordable houses were there? Five. Currently, in Salford there are 4,097 people on the housing waiting list. It’s time you started to think about the community you serve.”

Another woman resident told the panel: “We are going to end up like Monton – that’s where people go to have a drink”

Councillors had decided to decide the two related applications as one matter, a decision now criticised by Coun Garrido, who said he would right to planning officers to object over how it was handled.

His argument was that if they had been treated as separate applications the objects and Coun Garrido would have twice the amount of time to make their case against approval to the panel.

Coun Garrido is not on the planning panel, but was addressing his colleagues as a ward councillor.

“This property has had many changes over the last few years. It’s been a florist and an estate agent among other things, and they’ve all closed down within a short time.

“This is not part of a retail area, it’s a residential area and is not suitable for this sort of use.”

He argued that part of the application was for a flue which was too close to the garden of a neighbouring home. 

“We all know what food smells can be emitted from a such a flue, regardless of the filter. What’s it going to be like sitting out in the summer for that resident?” he argued.

“There’s absolutely no parking – not even on-street parking. Even where the shops are on the opposite side of Worsley Road, there’s no parking.

“No consideration seems to be being given to the fact that most people visiting the restaurant will arrive by car.”

Coun Garrido also said there was a shortage of social housing in Swinton and Worsley.

Councillor Bob Clarke also argued that the flue was ‘too close’ to the neighbouring garden. “It’s not going to disperse the fumes and I think it’s too low,” he said. “I’m not happy with the positioning and flues make a noise. If you’re sitting in your garden with that whirring away, it’s not really acceptable.”

Chair of the panel Coun Phil Cusack pointed out that the application was not about the change of use to a restaurant because under planning law, because it is already commercial premises, it is a’ permitted development’.

“We can only take into account policy and planning issues,” he said. “It’s a quasi-judicial process.”

Coun Mike McCusker also countered fears that the restaurant would become a hot food takeaway. “For that to happen, there would need to be a separate application,” he said.

The panel agreed with the planning officers’ recommendation to approve both applications.

Photo ©: Steve Lyon - Via LDRS