Complete rethink on restaurant

Councillors who originally supported plans for a town centre restaurant have changed their minds.

Southwell Town Council planning committee on Wednesday unanimously voted to object to the resubmitted application.

They gave it unanimous support when they first discussed it.

The applicant for the 50-seat restaurant over 6A and 6-8 Market Place and 1-3 Queen Street is Mr Douglas Gascoine.

Access would be through 6A Market Place currently occupied by the Down To Earth herbal medicine shop.

Part of the application site is the former Southwell Theatre.

The chairman of the town planning committee, Mr Brendan Haigh, said there was now an application for listed building consent and a resubmission of the original application which meant they could discuss it again.

“We can discuss this application from scratch so we should not allow, either one way or another, any previous discussions to cloud our opinions,” he said.

There were no objections from members of the public to the original plans but four people attended Wednesday’s meeting to object.

The tenant of the health food shop, Mrs Rita Rockley, said she was unaware of the application when it was first discussed.

The shop is owned by Mr Gascoine and rented to Mrs Rockley through Saracen Security.

She said she feared the plans would mean the closure of the shop which she runs with her husband, Mr John Rockley.

“Our shop is quite small and the rent is equivalent to the size,” she said.

“We were told that we would be found a new shop but there is nothing of a small size and rent available to us in the town and we have that in writing from Saracen Security.”

The lease on the shop expires in December 2009. Unless other premises are found the business is likely to close.

Town councillor Mr Peter Pay sympathised with Mr and Mrs Rockley but said the tenancy of the shop was a matter for the landlord and the town council could not use it as a reason to object to the application.

Mr Roger Dobson said they should consider the impact of losing a shop.

“It is at the heart of the town and King Street and Queen Street are important locations for the business life and vibrancy of the town centre,” he said.

Mr Dobson proposed that they object to the application on the grounds of noise and smell affecting neighbouring properties and its impact on town centre retailing.

Mrs Beryl Rimmer said they should object on the grounds of planning history because a previous, unconnected application for a restaurant above the Post Office in Queen Street, had been refused.

The application will be decided by the district council.

The applicant’s agent, Mrs Emma Saywell, did not wish to comment on the town council decision.