Appeal allowed and planning permission granted for a new Tesco Express in Maldon, Essex.
An Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government granted planning permission on 31 December 2013 for the conversion of The Cups public house in Wantz Road, Maldon in Essex to a Tesco Express convenience store following a hearing held on 13 November.
With reference to Maldon District Council’s reason for refusal, the main issue identified by the Inspector was the potential impact of the traffic attraction, parking demand and servicing arrangements associated with the proposed store on highway safety.
Our founding director and chairman, Rupert Lyons appeared as the expert witness at the hearing and gave evidence to respond to the transport planning and highway design issues arising from the proposed development. The Inspector, Nicholas Taylor BA (Hons) MRTPI, was satisfied in every respect and concluded that “the appeal scheme would be acceptable with regard to highway safety”.
Rupert said, “I am particularly pleased with the Inspector’s endorsement of the methodology of parking demand analysis provided in my evidence and his acceptance that the servicing requirements of the proposed store can be adequately controlled by the implementation of a Servicing Management Plan”. With reference to the application of observed durations of stay at suitable proxy stores to appropriate vehicular arrival rates determined with reference to the TRICS database, the Inspector determined that such a method “is likely to provide a reasonably robust indicator of likely parking demand for most of the time”.
