Flats plan for cafe on Burnley town centre outskirts

Bank Hall ward’s Coun. Lubna Khan and her Queensgate Labour colleague Coun. Mohammed Ishtiaq have asked for approval to convert 9 Halstead Street in Burnley from a café to an office and three self-contained apartments on the first floor.

The planning application will be decided by the authority’s development control committee on Thursday night.

It is recommended for approval with eight conditions.

An officer’s report to the meeting says: “The application is presented to committee as the applicants are elected Burnley borough councillors

“The property is a stone/blue slate building of traditional construction with two storeys to front elevation and three storeys to sides and rear due to falling land levels.

“It is presently a hairdresser’s salon at lower ground floor level, a café at ground floor level and vacant rooms a first-floor level.

“This is a commercial locality close to Burnley town centre.

“A commercial agent’s sign at 1st floor level is shown on Google Street View dated July 2022 and was still on the building on 05.06.2023, so it is reasonable to assume that it had been marketed for at least 11 months.

“The proposal is: lower ground floor – maintain existing use as hairdressers; ground floor– use as office; and first floor – three flats.

“There are no dwellings nearby, therefore there will be no impact on the residential amenity of persons beyond the site.

“However, it is proposed to locate dwellings above a commercial use.

“It is considered reasonable to minimise potential disturbance within the building. So a condition restricting the operating hours of the office to between 07.00 and 23.00 daily is recommended.

“The scheme is considered acceptable in terms of neighbour amenity.

“The loss of a community facility can be accepted on balance by reference to marketing and an apparent lack of interest over the course of the previous year

“The residential accommodation is self-contained and will provided acceptable living conditions for future occupants and will bring the upper floors into use making a small contribution to housing supply.

“As such the proposal is considered acceptable and approval is recommended.”