Queen’s Road, Bury St Edmunds, five-home plans rejected by West Suffolk Council over ‘serious’ highways concerns
Plans for five new homes behind a town property have been rejected due to ‘serious’ highways concerns as well as the impact on employment and the character of the area.
West Suffolk Council rejected the proposals from Mick Breslin for the project behind 47a Queen’s Road, in Bury St Edmunds, yesterday.
A workshop would have been converted as well as other offices demolished to create five two-storey properties on the land behind the terraced house.
Bury Town Council had recommended the plans be approved.
A design statement said the commercial viability of the site was ‘no longer possible’ due to a lack of suitable tenants and new regulations.
However, planners said on a visit to the site they saw some units were still in use and advertisements for others were displayed.
They said there was little justification submitted by the agents for the demolition of the spaces, and the site provided ‘valuable commercial space’ for small and startup businesses.
The council’s conservation team argued the plans would be out of keeping with the area and the town’s conservation area, while at odds with the pattern of Queens Road’s development.
The highways authority said the project was not acceptable and it was not clear there would be adequate parking provision or enough space for vehicles to safely move.
Planners agreed and said there were ‘serious concerns’ about highways safety as the applicants had not shown there would be sufficient area for movement.
On heritage impacts, a delegated report said the existing workshop and offices work in tandem with the area and the buildings are well screened from Queen’s Road.
They said the proposed two-storey new builds would be at odds with this and against the typical terraced nature of the area.
It was noted there was no reason to object to the demolition of buildings from a heritage perspective.
Planners rejected the application on the grounds of employment loss, character impacts, conflict with the pattern of development, loss of open space and highways safety.
