A REQUEST by Penn’s Village Shop on the Green to make permanent a canopy and awning put up at the beginning of the lockdown in order to sell a wider range of goods is meeting with objections.
Owner Navjot Mann told council planners: “To serve the community better during the lockdown we had to increase our range of fruit and veg as we did not have enough space inside. The weather was a concern so to protect the produce we put an awning up.
“The wooden frame and covering are not rigid so can be dis-assembled quite easily…it is not big and bulky so if it is viewed from the road or the green it does not stand out like a sore thumb…it does not obstruct…or block light or intrude into the privacy of neighbours.”
However, the parish council and people living above the shop in School Road are unhappy with the plan. Chepping Wycombe Parish Council has told Buckinghamshire Council planners: “We are very appreciative that the current awning has enabled the shop to provide extra, safer support to our community. However, we object to it becoming a permanent structure, albeit demountable, as it is unsuitable for the up-coming winter weather, is unsightly, not in keeping with the street scene and restricts access to the frontage of the flats above.”
David Smith, who owns the leasehold of the two flats above the shop and is supported by the tenants, says the canopy is an eyesore and prohibits the windows being cleaned and gutters maintained.
Both Mr Smith and the parish council say they would support the provision of a “permanent, professional strong awning fixed to the shop that could be opened and retracted as necessary.” A decision on the application will be made early next month.
… while plans for school to keep its ‘lockdown air dome’ splits the community
PROPOSALS by Holmer Green Senior School to keep a blow-up air dome over its tennis courts to help it separate students in wet weather and lunchtime during the pandemic have split the community. By yesterday 133 people had written to the council supporting the plan with 102, including the parish council, objecting.
A generator and electric fan unit will keep the dome inflated but its noise, objectors say, disrupts teaching at the adjacent junior school and disturbs neighbours. At 10.5 metres high they say the dome can be seen from Penn Wood two miles away and the sun reflecting off it creates a glare similar to snow-blindness.
However, the school says it needs to keep the dome to comply with Government Covid guidance. It says it is having to take increased numbers of students – it now has a record 1,020 pupils – and needs the dome to provide cover for them during wet periods and lunch and keep them in “bubbles” as specified in Covid guidelines. A number of its pupils come from Penn, Tylers Green and Hazlemere. A decision is due early next month.
Buckinghamshire promises ‘robust’ response to planning reforms
THE Government’s proposals to loosen up the planning system and speed up new housing approvals is testing Tory party loyalty in Buckinghamshire.
A leak to the Daily Telegraph last week said that an algorithm being used to calculate the number of homes needed to be built in the Chilterns area, which includes Penn, over the next few years will need to be more than double that already envisaged. The Government was quick to say the algorithm was only one of many being used and no decisions had been made and consultations yet to be completed, but it was enough to set alarm bells ringing among politicians who think the area is already having to provide too many new homes.
Buckinghamshire Council leader Martin Tett told The Guardian the planning proposals were “undesirable and undeliverable” but didn’t expand. Warren Whyte, an up-and-coming Conservative who’s in charge of planning in the county, tweeted that he didn’t understand why the Tories were “downgrading growth in areas we pledged to level-up and increasing growth where we already have challenging targets.”
Penn’s MP Dame Cheryl Gillan and Tylers Green MP Steve Baker have both said they are in favour of the planning reforms providing there’s protection for Green Belt. The council is promising a “robust” response to the proposals later this month. It should show how rebellious they are prepared to be.
Planning briefs…
New cemetery – Preparation work on the site of the new Wycombe cemetery – to be known as the Penn Road Cemetery – near Hazlemere Crossroads is nearing completion. A planning application for two metal entrance signs will be considered by the council next month.
Trees face the chop – Permission is being sought to fell and prune a number of trees on land next to 5 Southcote Way, Tylers Green, some of which are protected by tree preservation orders. An arboricultural report to the council says the trees – mainly beech – are decayed or diseased. Tylers Green Middle School is seeking permission to chop down an ash tree in front of the school which is suffering from ash dieback disease. Permission is also being sought by the owners of Penn Lodge in the Penn Conservation Area to fell an ash, similarly diseased.
Swimming pool – Penn parish councillors want an historic buildings officer to be consulted before permission is given for the owners of Merchants Yard, Elm Road, Penn to build a swimming pool in the garden. They say historic tile kilns have been discovered nearby in the past. Two neighbours are also objecting to the plan and the parish councillors want a full planning application to be submitted. The owners are applying for a lawfulness certificate because they feel the pool can be built under permitted development rights.
Electric chargers – Beaconsfield Service Station, off the M40, has applied to build an energy storage unit alongside the six electric vehicle charging points it has already received permission for. The unit will enable the charging points to recharge electric vehicles more quickly