Cllr. Hamish Pollock attended the meeting of the council’s development control committee on Wednesday, 26th June 2013 at the Civic Offices and addressed the committee on behalf of the local residents attending in respect of the planning application for Units A and B, Beacon Grove, High Street, Carshalton. Hamish asked that in the event that the committee gave planning consent, then the planning conditions would be tightened regarding both opening hours and delivery hours.
The representative from Costa Coffee said that he had no problems with agreeing to these requests. The daily opening hours were reduced from 7am-8pm by one hour to 7am-7pm and deliveries would be contained within the same time slot.
The development control committee gave planning consent on this basis along with other conditions contained within the planning officers’ report.
There were no sustainable planning reasons for preventing a “chain” coffee shop such as Costa Coffee from having planning consent and no grounds for refusal of permission could be found by the committee. Planning legislation set down by Parliament encourages competition within local shopping centres through planning law, even though there are already a number of independent coffee shops in Carshalton High Street and environs.
Why can’t Costa stay open until 8pm? It will be closed now by the time I get back from work. Pubs are open in the high street, so why not Costa?
The opening hours were agreed by planning condition. Their shops normally shut at 7pm I understand. Having researched the topic, I believe most otherlocal cafes shut at 7pm if not before then.