Council approval for plan to split B&Q store
FARNBOROUGH'S B&Q store will be downsizing to make room for another retailer.
The shop, in Invincible Road, will be subdivided into two separate units.
Planning permission for the site, which consists of the 12,077sq/m store, garden centre and 468 space car park, was granted in 2002, however a condition was put in place to prevent the store being subdivided.
Henderson UK Property Unit Trust submitted an application to Rushmoor Borough Council last September to vary that condition, to allow the building to be split into two units.
The plans were approved by the council last Monday. A noise impact assessment, carried out by 24 Acoustics, stated that there will be no loss of amenity to neighbouring houses from the development.
The report stated: “The predicted increase in noise level caused by activities within the service yard (predominantly forklift truck movements) is considered to be low.
“Noise levels at properties bounding the service yard are of marginal significance for weekdays and Saturdays, whilst levels may cause complaints on Sundays.
“The predicted increase in noise level caused by higher numbers of goods vehicles entering and exiting the service yard is deemed insignificant.”
However, during the consultation process, environmental health deemed the noise assessment ‘unsatisfactory’ and many residents objected to the plans on the basis of noise disruption.
One resident said on the council’s website: "The noise impact statement does not consider the movement of goods once delivered via the lorries.
“Currently, at night time, although the disruption of the actual delivery trucks have no impact upon us, we often hear or get woken by the distribution and stacking of the goods around the plant.
“This disruption is twofold; by the delivery of goods via fork lift trucks and then the staff stocking up the goods in the areas.
“There are also frequent alarm noises when these distributions are being made."
It is not yet known who the tenant of the second unit will be, however, a report from Lambert Smith Hampton, the agent for Henderson UK, stated it will be used solely for the sale of non-food bulky goods.
The agent added: “The application is not made with a specific operator in mind, and therefore does not specify the relative proportions of the two units into which the existing single unit might be subdivided.
“The proposal to subdivide the existing unit would increase customer choice and the diversity of the retail offer for non-food bulky goods in Farnborough.”