Hair salon plans passed for former doctors’ surgery in South Staffordshire

Russell House, which dates back to the Victorian era, has been home to the Codsall surgery since the 1970s. The surgery has now relocated to the new Codsall Community Hub after Russell House was deemed no longer fit for purpose.

On Tuesday, South Staffordshire Council’s planning committee granted permission for a change of use for Russell House. A hair and beauty salon is planned for the ground floor of the Bakers Way building, while the first floor will provide office space.

Codsall Parish Council recommended the plans for approval and the county council’s highways department raised no objections. But South Staffordshire Council received one objection and a petition containing 92 signatures.

Concerns include parking and the proposed opening hours of the salon.

A report to the planning committee said that the site’s car parking area will remain, with an additional two parking spaces provided.

An agent speaking in support of the application at Tuesday’s meeting said: “We feel the relocation of the doctors’ surgery to the new community hub can be considered a real positive for the whole of Codsall. The purchase of the building also assisted this smooth transition.

“The key objections seem to be increased traffic and parking, together with a question over the impact of opening hours to 9pm. The main source of objection was in the form of a petition prepared by the owner of an existing nearby hair salon.

“However local competition is not a reasonable objection to a planning application. Most importantly, Codsall continues to grow and we are confident there are ever-increasing numbers to make use of all local service industries.

“The GP surgery had 10 consultation rooms and capped appointments at just 15 minutes, which equates to four appointments per hour and a potential 320 visitors per day in addition to a significant number of staff. In contrast, a hair salon at maximum capacity can only accommodate a maximum of 40 appointments per day, which equates to a reduction in use of around 85% in terms of daily visitors.

“We fully accept this property is located in proximity to nearby residential dwellings and this was the case for the surgery. The offices would be restricted to standard working hours of 9am to 6pm and the hair salon is proposed to open 9am to 9pm on certain days, with no working on Sundays or bank holidays.

“We accept the additional few evening hours may be questioned but this is simply a result of Covid and its impact. Hair salons now generally operate on two teams. This means if one team is affected by illness the other team can stay operational in isolation from the other team. This reduces the number of visitors to the salon on a daily basis through reduced staffing and more carefully-spread appointments.

“The additional few hours is not to enable more appointments but simply to enable greater chair separation distances and greater time between appointments for cleaning, as after each appointment each cutting station needs to be fully sanitised.”

Ward councillor Matt Ewart said: “It does seem to be the main burden of objections rest upon the question of amenity.

“Those of us who live in South Staffordshire villages will know the availability of parking areas does not necessarily mean you have parking spaces available. An additional complexity is the vast majority of the parking spaces available in Codsall are limited to two hours.

“I would also accept that these difficulties that might arise from lack of parking are more an issue for the applicant and the prospective business than they are for residents.”

Councillor Penny Allen said: “Having driven someone frequently to Russell House for appointments with the doctors being there, and having found the car park very full and numerous patients queued outside as well as inside the building, I would heartily recommend that the hairdressers would have a great deal less custom going through. I certainly regard the use of offices upstairs as being acceptable in this location.

“The car park opposite does tend to take the bulk of the doctors’ appointments and although this building is situated on a corner there is room for additional parking, which should be explored to add extra spaces. People are used to this building being extremely busy all day long.”

Councillor Lin Hingley said: “I would approve this because it is another business – we need all the businesses we can get.”