Following the failure of the Tatton’s current owners to get their plans (for a convenience store and care home) approved, the site is up for sale.

As before, the Lib Dem Council is working hard behind the scenes to get a positive outcome and I’ll report back when I’ve something firm to report.

We’ve received notification today that the planning inspector has rejected the developer’s appeal on Gatley’s Tatton cinema site.

Last year, the Council rejected the application for a small supermarket and a care home on the site and the developer appealed against the decision.

The inspector has decided that the appeal fails, and the Council’s decision to reject the application stands.

The main ground for rejection of the appeal was on amenity space for the care home - a somewhat technical argument about what counted as usable amenity space.

Other arguments put forward by others present, including myself, held some weight but were not considered sufficient to reject the appeal without the amenity issue.

I’ll write more on this when I’ve time.

I spent today in the appeal over the Tatton cinema site.  The developers were appealing against the Council’s rejection of plans for a small supermarket and a care home.

The short report is that the Inspector heard both sides, had a site visit and will make his decision in around six weeks time.

Now for the slightly longer version.

This was  my first planning appeal - I had a general idea of what to expect, but no more.

We gathered in Committee Room 3 at the Town Hall.  There were five people from the developers’ side, four councillors, a few council officers, and a few other people (including four other Gatley residents - three against the development and one for).

It was a small enough group that we could all sit around one large table, and everyone was able to have their say.

Parts of the meeting got very technical, with the experts from each side throwing around obscure acronyms and quoting bits of the Development Plan we base planning decisions on.

Others were more understandable, and no-one was forced into technical jargon - we were able to make our points in plain English.

We have no idea about the outcome. The Inspector heard our arguments and will now go away and reach his decision.

The issues that were considered were:

• The effect on the living conditions of future residents of a care home, with regard to amenity space and  noise.
• Disabled parking
• Over-development of the site
• The effect on the conservation area
• Traffic
• Viability of the local centre

There was substantial discussion over issues such as the amount of amenity space around the care home (and a rather technical discussion about the definition of “amenity space”), the noise from delivery lorries to a supermarket, parking spaces in front of the Tatton and wider traffic issues with the complexity of the junctions.

If anyone would like to know more detail, I’ll happy to provide it; but for now all we can do is wait.

I’ve heard this afternoon that the Informal Hearing into appeals will be held on Wednesday 10th March 2010 at the Town Hall, Edward Street, Stockport, SK1 3XE commencing at 10.00am.

A Planning Inspector appointed by the First Secretary of State will determine the appeal.

The two applications being appealed are:

(DC041677)
Partial demolition and reconstruction of former Tatton Cinema foyer, demolition and reconstruction of adjacent two storey retail units to provide 377m2 retail unit, erection of three storey 44 bedroom care home (Use Class C2) on site of former auditorium, alterations to highway, provision of access, car parking, servicing and landscaping.

(DC041678)
Conservation Area Consent for the Partial demolition and reconstruction of former Tatton Cinema foyer, demolition and reconstruction of adjacent two storey retail units to provide 377m2 retail unit, erection of three storey, forty four bedroom care home (Use Class C2) on site of former auditorium, alterations to highway, provision of access, car parking and servicing, provision of landscaping and development ancillary thereto.

As we reported in our recent Keeping in Touch leaflet, the Tatton site developers have now launched a formal appeal.

The proposal being appealed is to have a large convenience store in the cinema building, limited parking at the front and a care home at the rear.  This was rejected by councillors back in the spring.

To quote from the letter being sent out to local residents:

The appeals to be decided at Informal Hearing to be heard by an Inspector appointed by the First Secretary of State.  I will inform you of the date and venue in due course.

Any comments that you made to the Council at the application stage will be sent to the Planning Inspectorate and taken into account before he or she reaches their decision.

If you wish to make any additional comments you may do so by sending 3 copies to The Planning Inspectorate, Room 3/18A, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6PN within 6 weeks from 09/12/2009.  Please quote reference APP/C4235/A/09/2117976/NWF for Planning Permission Refusal and APP/C4235/E/09/2118090/NWF for Conservation Area Consent Refusal.

The Planning Inspectorate have introduced an online appeals service which you can use to comment on this appeal.  You can find the service through the Appeals area of the Planning Portal.   The Inspectorate may publish details of your comments on the internet (on the Appeals area of the Planning Portal).  Your comments may include your name, address, email address or phone number.  Please ensure that you only provide information, including personal information belonging to you, that you are happy will be made available to others in this way.  If you suply information belonging to a third party, please ensure you have their permission to do so.

There’s more information on taking part in this nine page PDF.

I’ve nothing new to report on the Tatton beyond my last posting, but I wanted to say that it’s something all your councillors are working hard on right now and we’ll let you have more information as soon as there’s something firm.

Mornings like this I can live without!

On the Council side, I’ve reported a faulty green light on the traffic lights by the newsagents on Gatley Road, been working on how to crack the parking issues on Oakfield Avenue in Cheadle, chased up the poor condition of the alleyway from Gatley Station past Brentwood Drive to Gatley Road and had a long chat about the Tatton.

Work was an accountancy morning, so less fun.  Now off to have some lunch.

About three weeks ago we asked for your opinions on an idea to have a convenience store and car park on the old Tatton cinema site (instead of the convenience store and care home idea, rejected by the Council a few months ago).

In total, we received 81 replies. 40 were in favour of the proposal, 38 against and three expressed no opinion.

If we can find a proposal which the site’s owners are willing to look at and there’s clear support among Gatley residents, I will pursue it. In this case, fewer than half of those who responded were in favour of this particular proposal.

We will, of course, continue to work positively to find a good solution, but I won’t be pressing for this solution.

I said in my last piece that the developers still have the opportunity to appeal against the rejection of the previous proposal (convenience store and care home). Several people have asked me to explain how this works in more detail.

Stockport Council has rejected the planning application. By law, any rejected application can be taken to appeal with the Planning Inspectorate. If that happens, the developers and the Council each put their cases and the Inspectorate decides whether or not to overturn the decision.

Should the Planning Inspectorate decide to overturn a decision (which it often does), there’s nothing more the Council, local councillors or even an MP can do. Frustrating as it often is, the law is clear.

Earlier this year, Cllr Brian Millard worked hard to represent the will of the majority of local people and put a strong case that the proposal should be rejected, which it was. Should the developers appeal (they have until the end of the year to decide), I will work with Council officers and argue our case as best I can in front of the Planning Inspector, but the final decision will not be ours to make.

Our challenge as councillors is to work with the Council, the site’s owners and local people to find a solution for the site that enhances Gatley, whilst knowing that it could be taken completely out of our hands.

Alongside Pam, I will continue to fight for a positive outcome and to keep you informed of developments.

Thank you to everyone who’s already taken the time to respond over the ideas that have been floated for the Tatton.  It’s so important that the views of Gatley residents are taken into account - for or against.  If people are against the proposals, we can kick them into touch and save a lot of time.  If in favour, we can take them further.

It’s still early days - if you haven’t sent in your ideas already, please do!

I’ll keep you informed of progress.

As you all know, the local Lib Dem team have been pushing hard to get the best possible outcome for Gatley residents on the future of the privately owned Tatton Cinema site.  Stockport Council refused the recent planning application because of the lack of car parking provision which could have made the situation in Gatley village even worse and because of concerns over the impact of the proposed convenience store on local businesses.

I have been informed that a new possibility has emerged in talks between the Council and the site owner.  I must caution that a formal revised application has yet to be made but this is such a key issue for the village that I believe it is vital that residents’ views are sought and fed in as early as possible.

The new proposal would include retention of the proposed convenience store at the front of the site with the remainder of the site being made available for public parking through a land swap for equivalent land elsewhere in the borough.

Clearly there would need to be significant negotiations and no guarantees can be made at this stage but IF there is strong local support for this solution we will push to achieve it.

Please let me know what you think by emailing me, giving your name and address, plus:

- Whether you would be in favour of the proposals as outlined above (Yes or No)

- Whether you are in favour of the original plans (Yes or No)

Of course, the Developer may yet appeal against the decision to refuse the original planning application and has until the end of the year to do so.  We will keep you informed.