Agenda item

Application for change of use for paintballing with ancillary buildings and structures (retrospective).

‘Late items:’

Consultations

Three further letters of objection have been received raising the following additional points: -

1)         The paintballing site is requesting to operate potentially 365 days a year, with customers arriving from 8:30am which coincides with parents dropping children off at the local primary school, which is in close proximity to Burroughs Road, The traffic is very heavy and granting this permission would be chaotic

2)         The previous owners were limited to 42 days per year, which was adhered to and the previous operators ceased their operations 2015-2016. If the current operator is claiming precedent this is incorrect

3)         Part of Burroughs Road is privately maintained. The Council have already had to carry out considerable repairs to the road and this use will only make it worse, particularly with informal unsightly passing places

4)         Lorries regularly visit the site to deliver supplies and equipment. If the site is locked it results in lorries having to turn around and cause damage

5)         What has changed, there is no precedent to allow the increased use, however existing issues remain, and the use within another area of the Burroughs or Martinshaw Wood would not be permitted

6)         There is no evidence of additional trade being generated for other businesses within the immediate area. Only the current operator and landlord benefit from the use

7)         There is no evidence of additional employment being created, the manager travels from Nottingham and the other staff members seem to be part timers and tend to be students from Leicester University

8)         Current operator is carrying out massive online marketing of the site, the fact that it is in a beautiful, natural area is of no interest to likely customers. Only interest is profit and not the area

9)         Why hasn’t the current operator been told to dismantle the infrastructure and revert back to the previously agreed opening times

10)       Inconsistency within the planning for this area, when certain types of double glazing or a small porch cannot be installed upon a dwelling as it would detract from the beauty of the area, however 300 metres away in a wood a paintballer operator have built Vietcong village, which has increased traffic and noise and has the backing of the planning department

Appraisal:-

Noise and Impact upon Residential Amenity

To ensure the proposed use is not carried out 7 times a week, a condition has been imposed to restrict the use to 150 days per year, however it is considered necessary to ensure that the use is not taking place on the site more than 3 times in any one week. This restriction would protect the wider countryside, from an intensive use within this rural location and would also remove a potential source of continued noise and disturbance.

Impact upon highway safety

Impact of the use upon the highway has been reported within the committee report, however in terms of the use and the impact upon the existing school traffic, the use predominately takes place on weekends, where the school is not in use. The use of the site during the week would be limited to a single occasion and Leicestershire County Council (Highways) has not objected to the proposed use. However, the applicant has highlighted that the paintballing use does not start until 9:00/9:30am and therefore it would be reasonable to amend condition 2 to change the hours of use to 9:00am – 17:00pm Monday to Friday and 9:00 am – 16:00pm Saturday – Sunday.

Recommendation

Grant planning permission subject to:

That the Interim Head of Planning be given powers to determine the final detail of planning conditions.

Amend condition 2:

2.         The application site shall not be used for paintballing activities outside of the hours of 09:00am to 17:00pm Mondays to Fridays or outside the hours of 09:00am to 16:00pm Saturdays and Sundays.

            Reason: To ensure that the use is restricted to daylight hours, to safeguard valuable habitats and night time foraging in accordance with Policy DM6 of the adopted Site Allocations and Development Management Policies Development Plan Document 2016.

Replace condition 3 with the following:

3.         The number of days that paintballing or associated activities at the site shall not exceed 150 days in anyone calendar year, and the use shall not be carried out on more than 3 days within any one week, Monday to Sunday.

Reason: To ensure that the use does not become a source of nuisance, to protect the amenities of the neighbouring properties and the countryside in accordance with Policies DM4 and DM10 of the Site Allocations and Development Management Policies Development Plan Documents.

Application for change of use for paintballing with ancillary buildings and structures (retrospective).

It was reported that Leicestershire County Council Highways had submitted late comments after the late items had been published requesting some measures on the highway (such as passing places) to address some of the concerns raised. Officers had not had the opportunity to consider these comments.

It was moved by Councillor Sutton and seconded by Councillor Ladkin that permission be granted subject to the conditions in the officers report and late items except that the hours of use be 9.15am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday and 9.15am to 4.00pm on Saturdays and Sundays in order to reduce traffic on the narrow access road at peak times in the morning, that the use be restricted to 150 days per calendar year with a maximum of four days in a week and these four days not to run consecutively across different weeks. Upon being put to the vote, the motion was CARRIED.

In relation to the aforementioned late comments from the County Council, it was moved by Councillor Ladkin and seconded by Councillor Richards that the Interim Head of Planning in consultation with the Chairman of the Planning Committee and the spokesperson for the opposition be granted delegated authority to include a condition as requested by the highways authority if deemed appropriate following discussion with the highways authority. Upon being put to the vote, the amendment was CARRIED and it was

RESOLVED –

(i)            permission be granted subject to the conditions contained in the officer’s report and late items and:

a.    Amended condition 2 to read “the application site shall not be used for paintballing activities outside of the hours of 9.15am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday or outside the hours of 9.15am to 4.00pm Saturday and Sunday;

b.    Amended condition 3 to read “the number of days that paintballing or associated activities at the site shall not exceed 150 days in any one calendar year, and the use shall not be carried out on more than four days in any one week (Monday to Sunday) and that these four days may not be run consecutively across two weeks (ie no more than four consecutive days use at any time).

(ii)           Authority be delegated to the Interim Head of Planning in consultation with the Chairman of the Planning Committee and spokesperson for the opposition to impose a condition as requested by the highways authority if it is deemed appropriate following that consideration.