Line drawn on hall bid

An appeal against the district council’s decision to refuse permission for 26 apartments on the site of a former Ollerton bingo hall has been dismissed.

The planning inspectorate dismissed the appeal by Regal Leisure Ltd, of Radcliffe, for the one and two-bed apartments at the former Regal Social Club, Forest Road, Ollerton.

The district council turned down an outline planning application in August.

Ollerton and Boughton Town Council, which opposed the plans, welcomed the news at a meeting.

A planning inspector, Mr Edward Simpson, who visited the site on March 4, said in his report that the main issues in deciding the appeal were whether the proposal would result in an unacceptable loss of retail frontage and whether it would provide sufficient carparking.

He said the replacement of the shopping type frontage by a block of residential units would introduce a substantial break in retail frontage.

He said: “It is the council’s concern that such a break would sever the functional link between commercial uses on Forest Road, potentially in a manner that would be damaging to the viability and vitality of the centre.”

Mr Simpson said the council was concerned to ensure the continued attractiveness of Ollerton as a village centre.

He said the gap in the retail frontage would be so large as to appear as a substantial break here.

“I am also of the view that it would be likely to sever the functional link between retail and associated commercial uses in this part of Forest Road to the detriment of the vitality and viability of the village centre.

“I conclude that this amounts to sufficient planning harm to justify a refusal of planning permission.”

He said the site required redevelopment and that principle was not an issue.

He said a scheme that retained shops or commercial units on the ground floor while providing homes above would not have the detrimental impact on viability.

Mr Simpson said there was no objection to the proposal by the highway authority.

He said parking provision would be about one space per home.

He said: “Given the location of the site within the centre of Ollerton and in very close proximity to a wide range of shops and other local services, it is to be anticipated that a number of occupants would have no need for a car.”

He noted the concerns of local residents relating to what they considered to be the loss of a local parking facility.

He said they were not public parking spaces.