Planning Inspectorate to decide on factory plan at Walsall terraced house

Walsall Council officers will go before the planning inspectorate after Haroon Bashir, who owns M F Furnishings on Richmond Street, lodged an appeal for non-determination.

He had applied to build a first-floor extension to the factory – which is part of a row of terraced houses – to cut and store rolls of material.

As the case will now be dealt with by government officials, Walsall Council’s planning committee was unable to make a decision when it met on Thursday.

But members agreed with officer recommendations to indicate they would refuse the application if it was up to them, and this will be submitted to the planning inspectorate.

An application for an extension was first submitted back in 2017 and has been subject to a number of changes since.

As well as the first floor extension, the company wanted to erect an external staircase to get access to the proposed building independently from the rest of the unit.

Staircase

Officer Alison Ives said that despite its location in a residential terraced street, it has operated commercially for decades and was given a planning permission back in 1965.

She said: "The applicants have lodged an appeal against non-determination of the application. It’s a former terraced property operating as a commercial premises and I can confirm there was a planning permission granted in 1965 so it is a lawful use.

"This is for an extension to it to create more storage area for rolls of fabric and a cutting area.

"Officers have determined that they would have recommended refusal on this because the impact the open staircase has on the neighbours’ properties in Richmond Street and Bernard Street.

"Two other reasons for refusal are noise impact for neighbours and potential highways impact.

"Richmond Street is a typical terraced street so on-street parking is at a premium and there is no turning head either in Richmond Street. The extension could intensify the use."