A Wixams home-based hair salon moved a step forward to obtaining planning permission after councillors said they are “minded to approve”.
Last night (Monday, 12 August) Bedford Borough Council’s Planning Committee voted against the planning officer’s recommendation and decided to approve the retrospective planning application to convert the garage at 37 Woodpecker Gardens, Wixams, to a hair salon.
But the application will have to return to the next committee to agree to the necessary planning conditions.
This decision was deferred last month for a site visit by planning committee members.
The planning officers’ recommendation was to refuse the application as it conflicted with the Local Plan.
A report presented to the committee said that 149 representations had been sent in, with 144 being in support of the application and five objecting.
Committee chair, cllr Jonathan Abbott (Lib Dem, Clapham & Oakley) said he was “very torn” on the application.
“It’s quite easy to get 140 people to support you if they’re not directly affected by the thing that you are doing,” he said.
“If those five people who objected lived directly around that salon are we saying that people who are directly affected are less important than people who want to get their hair done locally,” he asked.
“This is conjecture at this point, but the reality is we don’t know where the supporters have come from.
“[At] the last planning committee we did have a neighbour come and speak who was directly impacted by it.
“And whatever decision we make we’re going to impact someone.
Cllr Martin Towler (Conservative/Riseley) said: “I recommend approval but only with a two-year. time scale while she finds somewhere else.
“I Just think it gives them a chance, it helps local business, it helps local population.”
David Doorne, legal advisor to the committee, said if the panel was proposing to support the hair salon then planning officers would need to put together a suite of conditions.
“If members were going down that route then we would have to resolve ‘members would be minded to grant permission’,” he said.
“So it would then come back at the next meeting for conditions to be approved.”
A majority of panel members voted to approve planning permission subject to conditions being agreed.
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
