An application to demolish Crosspool’s Jet petrol station and replace it with a retail development was approved conditionally at a council planning committee meeting on Tuesday.
Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the plans following a recommendation for conditional approval by planning officers.
Planning committee meeting agenda
Planning report (PDF, 2MB) – see page 208 of the PDF document, which is labelled page 228
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Could anybody tell me on balance was the public feedback to this generally positive or negative?
I attended the Planning Committee meeting as a local councillor and spoke against the application. I put forward two main arguments, that it would lead to an increase in traffic on a main road where there were already significant problems and that there was a risk that a new store would undermine the viability of some local shops. Unfortunately I didn’t persuade the Committe and members of all political parties voted in favour. I understand why although I was disappointed. The recommendation of the planning officer and traffic engineer was to agree the application on the grounds that it was in line with planning law and planning policy. The difficulty members of the committee have is that developers can appeal against an adverse decision to a government inspector who considers matters on strict planning law grounds and he or she can over turn a rejection and award costs against the Council.
The revised application is an improvement on the orgiginal one and the conditions attached are important. A planning agreement lasts for three years so developers do not have to start work in the near future although they can do so.