The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN

The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN — Rossendale Borough Council — by Elaine Moulton BA (Hons) BPl MRTPI an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State Decision date: 24 January 2023

The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN — Rossendale Borough Council — 0JN • The appeal is made under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 against a refusal to grant planning permission under section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for the development of land without complying with a condition subject to which a previous planning permission was granted. • The appeal is made by Mr Colin Davies against the decision of Rossendale Borough Council. • The application Ref 2022/0231, dated 22 April 2022, was refused by notice dated 7 September 2022. • The application sought planning permission for the change of use of land to form an outdoor eating area in association with the adjoining cafe without complying with a condition attached to planning permission Ref 2018/0177, dated 25 July 2018. • The condition in dispute is No 2 which states that: the outside seating area hereby permitted shall only be open to customers between the hours of 09:00-19:00 on Monday to Sunday including Bank Holidays. • The reason given for the condition is: in the interests of neighbour amenity.

The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN — Rossendale Borough Council — largely due to traffic on Market Street. It is reasonable to anticipate that the https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate

The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN — Rossendale Borough Council — largely due to traffic on Market Street. It is reasonable to anticipate that the https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate Appeal Decision APP/B2355/W/22/3306724 amount of vehicular traffic will be at the greatest during the daytime and that the background noise will reduce in the evening and at night. 6. The submitted Noise Impact Assessment (NIA) indicates that the outside seating area has a maximum capacity of 56 patrons and, from my inspection of the site, I have no reason to disagree. The NIA identifies that the impact of the predicted increase in ambient noise level at the facades of habitable rooms and the internal noise levels would be ‘slight/moderate’ for two of the three most affected noise sensitive receptors between 21:00 and 22:00. At other times during the proposed extended hours the NIA predicts that the impact would be ‘not significant’. The NIA goes on to conclude that subject to the patron numbers being limited to 30 between 21:00 to 22:00 the level of impact would be expected to be ‘not significant’. In reaching this recommendation, the NIA has taken into account the existing boundary treatment and the gazebo within the appeal site but considers that they provide negligible sound reduction.

The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN — Rossendale Borough Council — largely due to traffic on Market Street. It is reasonable to anticipate that the The appellant’s Statement of Case refers to the garage within the garden of the nearest noise sensitive receptor providing noise mitigation. That may well be the case as, whilst no mention is made of the garage within the NIA, I note that the assessment concludes that the impact of the proposal on that property will not be significant. However, the garage would not provide any meaningful noise mitigation for the two sensitive receptors that the NIA considers would experience a ‘slight/moderate’ increase in noise levels as it is not sited between the noise source and such receptors. 7. The outside seating area adjoins the entrance to the café. The area also provides rear access to other properties in the attached terrace. Therefore, people within the area may just be passing through to access the internal café space or may not be a patron of the café at all. As such, an accurate count of the number of people within, and using, the space could not be achieved. It would not, therefore, be possible to identify with any certainty that the maximum number of people using the area had been exceeded.

The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN — Rossendale Borough Council — largely due to traffic on Market Street. It is reasonable to anticipate that the Unless observed seated at a table, there would be considerable doubt whether the people within the outside seating area were using it. This would result in significant ambiguity as to when a breach of the condition occurred and it would not, therefore, be enforceable thereby failing to meet one of the relevant conditions tests. Accordingly, the mitigation measures recommended within the appellant’s NIA could not be applied and, consequently, the level of impact the NIA identified would arise from the extended use of the outside eating area would not be suitably addressed. 8. I therefore agree with the Council and consider that the imposition of a condition limiting occupancy of the outside seating area to a maximum of 30 people at any one time would not meet all the conditions tests set out at paragraph 56 of the National Planning Policy Framework (the Framework). For this reason, the variation of the condition as proposed should not be imposed. 9. In reaching this conclusion I have had regard to the significant number of representations that the Council received in support of a previous planning application for the extension of the opening hours as now proposed in the appeal before me.

The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN — Rossendale Borough Council — largely due to traffic on Market Street. It is reasonable to anticipate that the Whilst the number of residents that will be affected by the proposal are small when compared to the number in support that is not material to the decision and such public support does not justify the harm identified. https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 2

The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN — Rossendale Borough Council — largely due to traffic on Market Street. It is reasonable to anticipate that the Whilst the number of residents that will be affected by the proposal are small when compared to the number in support that is not material to the decision and such public support does not justify the harm identified. https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 2

The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN — Rossendale Borough Council — largely due to traffic on Market Street. It is reasonable to anticipate that the Appeal Decision APP/B2355/W/22/3306724 10. Conditions could be imposed that prevented live, amplified or recorded music from being performed or played in the outside seating area and requiring the displaying of signs requesting patrons behave in a manner that is considerate of neighbours. However, without a restriction on the occupancy of the outside seating area the measures set out in such conditions would not provide sufficient mitigation to address the noise impact of the proposal on the living conditions of all neighbouring occupants. 11. The appellant has referred to residents being able to identify a breach of the proposed varied condition. I agree that they would be in a good position to distinguish a breach of the hours of use of the outside seating area. However, it would also be difficult for them to identify a breach of the limitation on patrons using the outside seating area for the reasons I have identified. Furthermore, photographs of the area would not provide evidence of a breach as the uncertainty would remain as to the reason why any person was within the area, unless seated.

The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN — Rossendale Borough Council — largely due to traffic on Market Street. It is reasonable to anticipate that the Whilst the Council may have been able to identify breaches of other conditions relating to the property, including hours of opening, it does not follow that they will be able to identify a breach regarding the number of people using the outside seating area. 12. For the reasons given above, I conclude that the proposed extension of the opening hours of the outside seating area would cause significant harm to the living conditions of surrounding residents, with regard to noise and disturbance. As a result, there would be conflict with Policy ENV1 and ENV6 of the Rossendale Local Plan 2019 to 2036 which seeks high quality development which, amongst other things, is sympathetic to surrounding occupiers and does not have an unacceptable impact on amenity. It would also be in conflict with paragraph 174 of the National Planning Policy Framework. Conclusion 13. The development conflicts with the development plan when considered as a whole and there are no other considerations, either individually or in combination, that outweighs the identified harm and associated development plan conflict. 14. I hereby dismiss this appeal

The Drop Off Cafe, 42 Market Street, Edenfield, Ramsbottom, BURY, BL0 0JN — Rossendale Borough Council — Elaine Moulton INSPECTOR https://www.gov.uk/planning-inspectorate 3