Planning Offices refused over parking fears
PLANS to turn a derelict building into offices have been thrown out over fears it would bring too many extra cars to a village already suffering from parking and traffic problems.
Lee Bignell Mobius Works Ltd applied to make minor changes to a former factory canteen in Bitton to allow it to be used as office space for up to 30 staff.
But its proposal included only three parking spaces, and 79 residents objected, saying the lack of parking would increase congestion in the village and affect pedestrian safety.
Bitton Parish Council also opposed the application, calling three spaces “insufficient”.
A local councillor told members of a South Gloucestershire Council planning committee that Bitton was already “absolutely inundated” with cars.
Paul Hughes, who sits on the parish council and represents Bitton and Oldland Common on the district council, said staff would drive to the proposed new office and be unable to park.
“They’ll be running around the village and parking, probably in the most inappropriate places.
“It’s not far away from the Meadows [Primary] School and during term time...the roads are absolutely congested.”
The road through Bitton is “very narrow” but “quite a busy main road” as it runs between Bristol and Bath via Kelston, he added.
The planning committee heard that the former canteen, a locally listed building, was last used by car component manufacturer Intier when it closed down in 2006.
On Champion Road, it effectively provides a “gateway” to Bitton Mill , a newly completed housing estate with 115 homes, an officer said.
Officers recommended approving the application because the site already had permission to be used as an office or community facility as part of the new development, and the number of parking spaces was “acceptable” when assessed against current standards for commercial buildings.
Members heard officers had to judge the number of parking spaces against former council policy from an outdated local plan which was yet to be replaced.
Now referred to as “guidance”, the former policy sets no minimum but requires a maximum number of parking spaces, in this case seven, based on the floor area of the office, not the number of staff.
Keiren Shaddick, who spoke on behalf of residents of the Bitton Mill estate, said most of the office staff would drive to work as well as drive to get their lunch because of the poor frequency of bus services and the location of the nearest outlets that sell food.
He said the three proposed parking bays lay near a children’s play area due for completion in summer, so the “ill conceived” application had no regard for child safety.
Several committee members said they would like to see the building used as a community hall, rather than an office.
Proposing they turn down the application, Cllr Brian Hopkinson said: “This is a residential area. It would mess up the parking for the area.”
Members backed the refusal by eight votes to one.
The official reason for the rejection was that the proposed development would result in additional on-street parking and congestion that would harm village residents’ quality of life and detrimentally affect the travelling public.
Members heard that a family-run business that was keen to use the building for a nursery and preschool but a planning application is yet to be submitted.
KIDS Company founder Camila Batmanghelidjh has called for Michael Gove to apologise to children who lost support from the collapsed charity after she won a High Court disqualification battle.
She accused the senior minister yesterday of having been “really disingenuous” and hit out over a “smear campaign”, accusing former Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings of briefing against the organisation.
The charity, which supported vulnerable young people in Bristol and London, had a number of famous backers, including former prime minister David Cameron, but it was wound up in 2015.
The closure came shortly after police launched a subsequentlydropped investigation into unfounded allegations of abuse and exploitation, following the broadcast of a BBC Newsnight report.
Earlier this month, the charity’s trustees said they had been “exonerated” when Mrs Justice Falk concluded after a 10-week trial that no disqualification order should be made against them.
Ms Batmanghelidjh said Mr Gove, now the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, had initially supported the charity’s work and handed her a CBE when he was in the Department for Education.
“By 2015 he was saying he never wanted Kids Co funded, you know, and I find it very difficult when people change colours,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.
“I can live without Michael Gove’s apology but the staff and the children are owed an apology from Michael Gove, (former Conservative MP) Oliver Letwin, all these people who promised that they were going to help us resolve the fact that children were pouring in through our doors, you know, and the reason I clashed with the Cabinet Office was because when I realised they’re not taking responsibility.”
Ms Batmanghelidjh also hit out against Mr Cummings, who was Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief adviser until December.
She said: “I personally think it was a smear campaign and I think there were two targets.
“One is, I believe, David Cameron, because he was seen to have chosen us as Big Society and I think the Brexit team wanted to discredit him, because I don’t understand why Dominic Cummings, whom we had never met, was briefing against us in 2015.
“And I think another bit was campaigning for child protection issues and I think the country has no capacity to address its child protection problems.
“And I think we got sandwiched between these two concerns and that was why there was such a ferocious attack on us.”
The Official Receiver (OR) brought High Court proceedings against Ms Batmanghelidjh, as well as seven former trustees, including the BBC’s excreative director Alan Yentob.
The OR argued Ms Batmanghelidjh and the former trustees were “unfit” to hold company directorships as a result of their handling of the charity.
But, in a ruling on February 12, Mrs Justice Falk rejected the case and praised the “enormous dedication” the founder showed vulnerable young people.
“The public need no protection from these trustees,” she ruled. “On the contrary, this is a group of highly impressive and dedicated individuals who selflessly gave enormous amounts of their time to what was clearly a highly challenging trusteeship.”
A statement issued on behalf of the former trustees said: “Kids Company was forced to close in August 2015 following what the judge records as ‘unfounded allegations’ of child abuse, which made fundraising from private and government sources impossible.
“We are pleased that finally the facts have been gathered and assessed in a court of law, and that Mrs Justice Falk has exonerated both the former trustees and Kids Company chief executive Camila Batmanghelidjh.”