CGCA approach to Planning & Licensing applications
CGCA policy approach to Planning & Licensing applications
Broad policy principles include:
Retaining a good mix of residential, office, retail and leisure uses.
Market conditions mean that it can be more profitable for property owners to change a use at certain times. In the recent past we had huge pressure to change small offices into flats, which we opposed if the change would be unlikely to result in a good mix, as in cases where small businesses would be lost to under-used second homes, company or holiday lets.
A current challenge is the desire to change retail units into restaurants, which cause more disruption from servicing and much more noise at night. We welcome creative ideas to make retail attractive rather than taking the easy option of turning as many ground floor units as possible into restaurants and cafes, which we believe would harm the character and ultimately the success of Covent Garden.
A healthy, quiet time for residents and overnight visitors, late in the evening and at night.
For Covent Garden to remain livable for its 7,000 residents, including many families, and for its hundreds of thousands of overnight visitors every year, the area must wind down overnight.
We will therefore reasonably oppose different types of noisy activity outside certain hours, particularly in locations near to residential property. People need a chance to relax in their homes without intrusion before going to bed. And they then need to be able to have a decent night’s sleep.
Bars, restaurants, cafes, and any other commercial premises with people coming and going outside normal office hours, should not be open outside these times:
- 8am to 11.30pm on week days (Midnight on Fridays)
- 9am to Midnight on Saturdays, and
- 10am to 10.30pm on Sundays.
Deliveries and servicing should not take place outside the hours of:
- 8am to 8pm on week days
- 9am to 8pm on Saturdays, and
- 10am to 6pm on Sundays.
Use of tables & chairs outside premises that are not far from dwellings, people standing drinking on the pavement and the movement of furniture on the highway should be within these hours at most:
- 8am to 9pm Monday to Thursday
- 8am to 10pm on Fridays
- 9am to 10pm on Saturdays, and
- 10am to 9pm on Sundays.
Other outside spaces, such as terraces and balconies, are a pleasant amenity for those who have them. But loss of privacy from overlooking, and activity there that is noisy or generates fumes, can all seriously damage neighbours’ lives. We will therefore ask for no smoking, for screening, and for the hours of use of terraces and balconies to be limited, particularly where they are close to people’s homes. For example, an office with an outside space overlooking flats should be restricted to use at these hours:
- 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday.
- 9am to 7pm Monday to Friday for balconies and small terraces.
