Plymouth pizza restaurant refused permission to make takeaways permanent
The local council says it is because it is too close to a school
A Plymouth pizza restaurant which has been run as a takeaway during the pandemic has been refused permission to carry on permanently because it is too near a school.
Pizza Professor in North Hill has been run as a takeaway temporarily under relaxed rules brought in for the Covid-19 pandemic to allow food businesses to carry on trading during the restrictions.
The owners asked the city council to make the takeaway use permanent. But they have been turned down because of a policy banning new takeaways near secondary schools for health reasons, and because of road safety concerns on parking.
The 400m exclusion zone for new hot food takeaways around schools is designed to help improve public health and reduce obesity by protecting the “food environment” for pupils and support a wider range of health food choices.
Change of use to a cafe/restaurant was approved in 2018. Takeaway use was dropped at that stage because it was within the exclusion zone of Plymouth High School for Girls.
The new application from Mr and Mrs Hasan proposed opening the takeaway on weekdays from 5pm to 11pm, outside the main school hours.
The owners told the council the business had operated for almost a year as a takeaway during the pandemic and warned it might not survive if it was unable to continue after restrictions were lifted.
A statement supporting the application said: “The business has been built on delivering to our customers from orders received via food hubs, on which it is now totally reliant. We have established regular customers from these food hubs, therefore should this option be taken away, the business would not survive, resulting in more job losses and even further burden on the local economy.”
The applicants responded to concerns about parking by saying there were on-street bays on both sides of the road 25metres away and a public car park nearby. Parking restrictions ended at 5pm when businesses closed, which would free up spaces.
Council officers said the later opening hours did not go far enough to satisfy concerns about healthy food provision, as school operated outside the main hours with after-school activities, evening events and community use. Concerns were not raised about parking for a pre-application about takeaway use of premises at 53 North Hill because of on-street bays on both sides of the road.
The 400m exclusion zone around secondary schools for new hot food takeaways is a policy in the South West Joint Local Plan. A planning report to the council said it was in line with advice from Public Health England.
The report said: “Exclusion zone buffer sizes are often 400 metres which provides a reasonable walking distance, which equates approximately to a 5-minute walking time and is suitable given the length of normal school break times.
“The evidence and publications suggests that limiting the availability of takeaways within walking distance of schools can contribute to tackling the rising levels of obesity and other health impacts such as cardiovascular disease.”
The policy says the council “will resist proposals to provide new hot food takeaways within a 400 metre radius of providers of secondary education to protect the school’s food environment.”
A separate policy says proposals for establishments including hot food takeaways will not be allowed where they would cause a nuisance from noise, smell, litter, disturbance or other negative impacts, traffic and parking problems, or damage the character and appearance of the area.
The planning report said no off-street parking was proposed with the application for takeaway use and the business was on a main road with a bus stop and double yellow lines outside.
Highways officers considered “short term indiscriminate parking” was likely on surrounding streets, leading to safety concerns, and parking outside in the bus stop would obstruct the free flow and traffic and cause problems for buses and passengers.
The application was refused due to the breach of the 400m exclusion zone policy and concerns over highways hazards from parking.