COUNCILORS have told a social club to start reporting anti-social behavior on its doorstep to the police after it turned down a planning application for an electric shutter.
Officials advised the council’s planning committee to refuse planning permission because strong metal shutters would breach council policy.
Club secretary Ian Bros described London Road as the ‘Wild West’ with more than 20 companies installing metal shutters without applying for planning permission.
Mr Bros said 11 stores along a nearby stretch of London Road between Aldi and the former Santander bank – which has been empty for more than a year – included former Peacocks and Poundland stores.
The Cowley Club had the last original storefront on the street, with its door recessed, the planning committee was told.
At his meeting on Wednesday, Mr Bros said: ‘It is regularly used as a public toilet. We constantly have to clean up human feces.
“It is used for drug trafficking. One of our volunteers recently attempted to leave the club late at night to close and discovered there was drug dealing in the doorway.
Union consultant Clare Moonan asked if it was possible to install a shutter above the door only.
But Mr Bros said the window was angled towards the door making it impossible, and the club did not want to lose its original storefront and replace it with a more modern one.
Labor Councilor Daniel Yates asked if the club had ever reported anti-social behavior and crime to the police to show there were exceptional circumstances to override council policy.
Mr Bros said the club made no report.
Cllr Yates said: “They could have made a really good case for either presenting something that was a roller grill or a removable grill.
“But under these circumstances they presented something worse than the last time he was rejected, whether or not he had something nice painted on the outside. This does not respect the town planning policy.
The Cowley Club wants shutters similar to Oxfam in St James’s Street
Tory Councilor Carol Theobald said it would be a shame to lose the attractive storefront and replace it with a “terrible” shutter.
She said enforcement action should be taken against those who installed shutters without planning permission, adding: ‘The claimant should try to get the CCTV and get the police involved there.’
Green Councilor Marianna Ebel disagreed, saying London Road was not in a conservation area. She added that the design painted on the proposed shutter would be a “nice addition”.
Councilor Ebel said: “I don’t think it would ruin the look of London Road. It could be an improvement.
“We heard that there were regular needles and faeces in the entrance. You wouldn’t necessarily call the police when the culprit is gone.
Fellow green councilor Sue Shanks and independent Bridget Fishleigh voted to approve the strand, but were defeated by five other committee members.
More about this article: Read More
Source: www.theargus.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-05-07 04:43:00
