20 October 2016
Jersey’s Planning Committee has turned down an application (RC/2016/0887) by B&Q to open on Sundays.
The DIY shop has existing permission from the St Helier Connetable to open on nine Sundays a year, but it was discovered that the store owners hadn’t applied to Planning to vary a planning condition that had been imposed on the original consent.
Under the original planning permit, granted in 1998 before it was built, no permission was given for the store to trade on Sunday because of concerns about the impact of deliveries, traffic and noise on the surrounding residential area.
The application is, in part, retrospective – the shop has already opened on five Sundays this year. The remaining four Sundays are prior to Christmas.
Four objections were submitted to the Planning department expressing concerns about the possible increase in traffic, and noise from shoppers and deliveries.
A departmental assessment of the application recommended the extra trading should be allowed, under certain conditions such as no deliveries on Sunday, shorter opening hours and a parking plan to limit noise and traffic.
However, Planning Committee members said they were still concerned about the impact on neighbours and they had heard no evidence from B&Q to justify the removal of the planning condition, which was in line with Island Plan policies.
gov.je