Plans for the old Boots on Daventry Road have been turned down
An area of Coventry has so many takeaways that the council says another one cannot open. Plans to turn an old Boots on Daventry Road into a hot food takeaway open until 1am were refused by the authority on Wednesday, 31 July.
Drawings with plans indicated the former store was set to become a franchise of fried chicken restaurant Sam's Chicken. But the council rejected the bid as it would go against policy due to the "high concentration" of takeaways locally.
This would be more than the national average and affect locals' health and wellbeing, the decision notice added. Under policy, the council will not approve new takeaways in areas where they are "over concentrated."
This is defined as areas where there are more takeaways per 1,000 people than the average for England. The area by Daventry Road in Cheylesmore already has double the national average of takeaways, 2.33 compared to 1.05.
A new outlet would lead to a "harmful" over-concentration of takeaways locally, wrote a council officer in their assessment of the bid. But this was not the only reason the council did not grant the scheme permission.
Plans also lacked enough information to show the outlet would avoid "unacceptable" disturbance to neighbours. especially those upstairs, the officer wrote. The bid failed to show flue/extraction systems would do enough to reduce the takeaway's noise and smell, the council's decision notice added.
Four residents objected to the plans, raising concerns over a rise in noise and litter, anti-social behaviour, parking pressure and harm to locals' health. A separate bid for new signage at the unit was given the go-ahead.
