A new food outlet is set to open on the site of a former car showroom in Preston – but mystery still surrounds the company that will be operating it.
City council planning officials have given the green light to the conversion of the now vacant Chapelhouse Suzuki dealership on Blackpool Road in Plungington.
When the plans were submitted in July, they were light on detail about the exact nature of the proposed store – describing it simply as a “food retail unit”.
Even now that the blueprint has been approved by the town hall, no further information has been forthcoming about the brand that is poised to appear on the corner plot, at the junction with Plungington Road.
As the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed in the summer, the type of planning permission being sought appeared to rule out the potential for a takeaway offering – because it does not allow for the sale of hot food.
A convenience store seems the most likely option for the proposed business, but the firm that lodged the application – Leeds-based design company DB3 Group – has once again failed to respond to a request from the LDRS for details.
The premises will be allowed to trade between 8am and 8pm Monday to Saturday and from 10am until 4pm on Sundays. The new business will occupy the existing building on the site, with only minor changes to its entrances.
Twenty car parking bays will be made available for customers and staff, along with six cycle spaces, which highways bosses at Lancashire County Council deemed acceptable. However, they have insisted bollards are installed to prevent parking on the pavement.
In their assessment of the proposal, city planning officers concluded that the noise already generated by Blackpool Road and other commercial facilities in the area meant the food outlet would not have an adverse impact on nearby households. However, a 10 decibel limit has been placed on any plant equipment installed outside the facility.
It was also found that there were no other suitable properties that could have housed the new venture in the vicinity.
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