There is a proposal before Swale Planning to open a hot food takeaway on the corner of West Street adjacent to the Guildhall.

We encourage all members to make their views known on the Swale planning portal

The Faversham Society is objecting on the following grounds

20/505916   1 Market Place Faversham ME13 7AG Change of use from a restaurant to a hot food takeaway including installation of a pizza oven, fryers, serving counter and extractor fan.

This application should be refused.

1 Market Place is listed grade II and there is no listed building application for the internal and external works involved in this proposal. The application also inaccurately describes the change of use from Use Class A4 to A5 when the correct change is from Use Class E to sui generis use as a takeaway based on the 1^st September 2020 change to the Use Classes Order. Additionally, the heritage statement is entirely inadequate, taking no notice of the key location of the building nor of its historical significance. The visual impact of the scheme would be very damaging.”

The landmark building is in a very prominent location in the Market Place and is in relatively poor condition, needing significant restoration, and is in need of a use which would help to ensure that it is kept in good condition. The proposed use fails to make an effective use of the ground, first and upper floors of the building and is likely to result in the lesser-used parts of the building to fall into a yet poorer state.

The proposal includes a new flue in the courtyard, but no elevations or details are provided. Similarly, there are no drawings showing any alterations to the elevations. The drawings are basic and do not show any details of the interior.   The Heritage Statement states that by painting the flue, it would not harm the elevations. It lacks detail on the proposed alterations and provides no assessment of the significance of the building other than the listing description. It also fails to define or justify the impact of the proposals on the listed building or demonstrate that the changes are necessary. There is no explanation of how any benefits of the change of use would outweigh the harm to the special architectural character of the listed building. This is a requirement of the NPPF.

The use of this building as a hot food takeaway is likely to result in delivery vehicles to take food to customers and further demand for parking in the Market Place. Although the current parking regulations make evening parking possible, a busy takeaway in this location will result in increased noise and disturbance to residents. By introducing many more moving and parking vehicles, including delivery vehicles, the proposal will create visual, acoustic and safety impacts that will harm the established character of the town centre, which is a predominantly quiet, pedestrian place in the evening. It is proposed to open the takeaway until 2am every day, which would be harmful to the amenity of occupiers above other premises in this mixed-use area and would be entirely inappropriate in Faversham.