A pink painted flue attached to the outside of a Keswick restaurant left town council planners seeing red.
Members of the planning committee objected to a retrospective planning application for the unusual coloured flue at Waffleicious in Packhorse Court.
A meeting of Keswick Town Council heard that the flue had been erected without the permission of the landlord and without consulting the occupant of the flat above the premises.
Cllr Chris Houghton said that the flue was visually intrusive in a conservation area and has a direct impact on the visual amenity of the apartment above.
“It is noted that an objection has been made by the occupant of the apartment above which we support,” added Cllr Houghton. The meeting heard that the neighbour had also complained of cooking smells.
Meanwhile, councillors have looked favourably and have supported the change of use of a retail shop at 9 Bank Street, Keswick, into a hot Vietnamese food takeaway, including the installation of a kitchen air extraction system, which will be called Little Saigon.
They agreed to support the application subject to the extraction flue meeting the technical requirements advised by Cumberland Council’s environmental health department. Councillors have requested details of opening hours which had not been included on the application.
Councillors objected to the change of use of another bed and breakfast on Eskin Street – this time at number 23 – into a holiday let. Members heard that the application form and accompanying information indicates there will be no on-site management for the eight bedroomed property.
“We maintain our objection to change of use applications of this type on the grounds that this proposal would introduce an inappropriate level of use in this location,” said Cllr Houghton. “We have provided evidence that the lack of on-site management creates a high probability of anti-social behaviour where no on-site control exists.
“Local Plan policy 06 imposes a duty of care where new proposals must not have an unacceptable impact on the amenity of adjoining residents. We consider this application to be unacceptable on this basis.”
Two applications for guest houses on Eskin Street – Rowan Tree at number 37 and Cranford House at number 18 – received permission at the December meeting of the Lake District National Park Authority’s development control committee to be converted into self-catering holiday lets.
