Back of shops 'environment' objection fails
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S. 1. C. and M. P. Hyde (Double 'S Chassis Repairs)
'SIC. and M.P, Hyde, trading as Double Chassis Repairs, has been granted a licence for one vehicle and trailer, with an operating centre at the rear of a block of shops at Little Chalfont, by South Eastern Deputy Licensing Authority Derek Grange-Bennett.
Representations against the application on environmental grounds came from Bourbon House Investments, which owns the freehold of the land and buildings adjacent to the access to the proposed operating centre, from the owner of a butcher's shop, and from Saffetts (Builders Supplies) Ltd, which owns two of the shops.
The Deputy LA said the proposed operating centre was at premises the applicants had used for about 10 years in connection with existing business as motor repairers. They consisted of a workshop 301t by 1211, with hardstanding at the side 3011 by 1 1 ft. The access road, which served the rear of the shops, opened into a service area. There was a right of way over the access road and the service area to the applicants' premises.
That part of the service area over which there was no right of way, said the Deputy LA, and which was known as the accommodation land, was used by the occupiers of the various properties for parking and deliveries as they wished. The applicants' tractive unit would normally be kept on the accommodation land, where the parking of vehicles was on a "first come, first served" basis. The operating centre was, therefore, in effect, the applicant's leased premises plus the accommodation land.
The representors argued that the area was totally unsuitable for the operation proposed.
The further parking of vehicles would be detrimental to an area intended to be a service area for the shops and the flats above them. The area was already congested and the access was not satisfactory for use by further heavy goods vehicles. The fumes and noise created by a further vehicle of this nature would be detrimental to the amenities and health of the tenants.
The DLA said that he considered that to comply with the requirements of the Act an applicant must establish that the "base or centre" at which the vehicles would normally be kept was one over which he had control or at least, which was at all times available for his use for the parking of the authorised vehicle or vehicles.
The applicants in this case, said the DLA, had not established that they had control of the accommodation land, nor did they have a specific right to park on it. Nevertheless, he was satisfied that the place that was to be the operating centre was suitable as it appeared that the applicants had for the past 10 years in practice been able to park vehicles on the accommodation land at all times and that had not been challenged.
The DLA also did not find the operating centre unsuitable for use on environmental grounds. The reasons were that the present use of the service area involved a considerable number of vehicles of various types during the course of the day, either being parked or making deliveries, and there was of course the motor repair business which had been carried on for 10 years by the applicants. While appreciating that the service area was virtually surrounded by shops and flats, it had generally a somewhat "scruffy' appearance by reason of the uneven and unmade surface and the parking of various vehicles. The operating centre would be used only by one tractive unit. The vehicle would normally leave at about 0600 hours and only return, if at all, in the late afternoon or early evening. The vehicle would not therefore be coming in and out several times during the day.
Consequently, said the Deputy LA, he proposed granting the application. However, he thought, having regard to the slightly unusual nature of the operating centre, it would be appropriate to attach conditions to the licence. Those conditions were: (i) The type of authorised vehicle to be maintained and parked at the operating centre shall be limited to a tractive unit; (ii) The number of movements by the authorised vehicle from and to the operating centre shall not exceed one per day, except in the case of mechanical failure or other emergency; (iii) No trailers shall be maintained or parked at the operating centre.
He also thought that it would be in the interest of all parties initially to restrict the duration of the licence to two years. That would give an opportunity to review the working of the conditions at the end of that period.
• Following the recent storm of controversy over the appointment of a non-Welsh speaker as registrar to the Gwynedd group of county courts, reports the Daily Post, June 25, the Lord Chancellor has now given assurances that the new registrar will be learning Welsh.