Plans to add bakery to mini-supermarket in Ribbleton blocked over smell concerns

Plans to add a bakery to a Preston supermarket have been blocked over concerns about the impact of the smell on residents living above the proposed venture.

Preston City Council planners have rejected a bid to create the new facility – together with a hot food stall – within the Madinah Supermarket in Ribbleton.

The operators of the Blackpool Road business had also applied for permission to install a serving hatch out onto the street to allow customers to grab their food and go.

However, the premises are located on the ground floor of a four-storey building whose upper levels are occupied by flats – and although no objections were raised by members of the public, a report by town hall planning officers revealed a raft of concerns over the revamp, which it said the applicant had failed to address.

The council’s environmental health department objected to the proposal after concluding that an odour assessment accompanying the application had considered the effect of the plans “only on [residents] located over 20 metres away” – not those in the flats within the same building.

They also said key details about the location of the proposed ventilation system – along with an assessment of the impact of the noise it would generate and any mitigation measures needed as a result – were missing.

The application documents were described by planners as “insufficient and erroneous” – prompting requests for additional information during the planning process. However, the necessary detail “was not forthcoming”.

In a report outlining the reasons for the refusal of the application, planning officers acknowledged that the serving hatch and its canopy would not be an “overbearing feature”.

However, in the absence of the extra information sought by the authority, they concluded the development would cause “unacceptable harm” to neighbouring residents because of the “odour and increased noise disturbance”.

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