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The development is described as the partial change of use of the ground floor of an existing shop (in a protected structure) to use as a coffee shop. The shop currently operates as an off-licence and the proposal is to retail different products and to use a portion of the ground floor as a coffee shop. Certain works would be required to facilitate the development.

The ground floor consists of a retail area of 18.3m2. The coffee sales area would occupy an area of 2.1 m2 within the existing retail unit.

The Council concluded that the coffee shop element was unrelated to and would not be subsidiary to the primary retail use and that planning permission is required.

The Inspector noted that the Board has adjudicated on a number of similar cases (RL 3023, RL 2941, RL 2940 and RL 2516), which are relevant in the consideration of the current proposal. Each of these cases involved either the partial use of an existing retail area for use as a coffee shop/coffee sales area (RL 3023 and RL 2941) or the change of use of the entire floor area (PL2940 and RL 2516). In each of these cases the Board concluded that a ‘coffee shop’ constituted use as a ‘shop’ as defined in article 5 and did not constitute a material change of use and was not ‘development’.

It is also worth noting two cases where the Board reached a different conclusion (RL 2221 and RL 2939). The former related to the change of use of a shop unit within an existing shopping centre to use a restaurant and the latter related to the change of use from retail clothing use to coffee shop/bistro restaurant. In these cases the entire unit was converted to a restaurant with seating.

The Inspector concluded that Read the rest of this entry »