winger

Paul best of luck, what an uphill battle.

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rightyho

Councils are a lottery bud and gutted to hear you've landed in the middle of one.

As you know with my gym, I tried to get consent on a building prior to securing this one and was flatly turned down on similar grounds to what you are hearing ATM.

Imagine my surprise when I found out last week another gym is planning to open in the unit we were originally interested in but refused change of planning use on. They have secured the change of use.

So, all I would say is that it is possible and I guess largely depends on who is in your corner.
Council planning commottess do have a holier than thou approach - I even saw that with my application to convert my garage into another room at my house - different answer regarding a yes or no and even required window sizes and their elevations depending on who I talked to.

Good luck with it all but it does sound as though you have a decent chance.

As an aside, getting a signed petition from business workers near to you in support of your gym may help, too - you can demonstrate that as well as helping the local public in nearby houses, you are providing a health benefit service to workers in the area too.

Central government directive directs local councils to look favourably on businesses supporting health in the local community - and your council should probably be reminded of this.

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Captain Hero

I didnt really understand all of what I was reading, other than the council was going to reject the bid, but good luck to you Paul mate keep us updated.

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Nine Pack

Thanks guys, we'll get through it.

Righty,
We have asked a few of the businesses that have asked us about corporate memberships to put a short e mail together about how it will benefit them. In return for the help, we will do them a special corporate rate. This will help to draw attantion to the health benefit to the local workforce that the gym will bring. Also it demonstrates that our proposal is indeed one of the 'complimentary' uses for the area that our planning consultant was talking about.

A big helping factor here is the Rochdale Development Agency. They are there purely to make sure businesses invest in the area & thay carry an awful lot of weight when it comes to decision making. They are fully behind our proposal. We WILL see this one out & the gym WILL open in Blue Pit.

Sounds a bit iffy that someone else has got a change of use through where you couldn't. It's certainly a bit of an old boys network, but it seems we have the backing of the people in power so I'm not worrying too much.

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Nine Pack

It seems we have friends who have friends in high places... I'll post more on this later in the week.

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jaymegrayston

any developments in the war agains the council mate?
JaMiE

winger

Bump that.

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Nine Pack

Sorry guys, been busy gathering support for our proposal so that the council will give us the nod. We even have the residents association behind us now too. Today is the last day for public comment on the matter.

We now have all the letters of support & evidence to prove why the club would be complimentary to the area & not harm the purpose of the 'primary employment zone' as the council call it. We have had supporting statements from the senior partner at the estate agent (who is actually very influential), one from our planning consultant & one from the Rochdale Development agency (RDA). They were all telling the same basic story, but from slightly different angles, (i.e the estate agent tells it from a realistic marketing point of view & the RDA want to encourage companies to invest in the area).

Here's the one the RDA very kindly sent to the council planning officer:

Dear Chris

Blue Pit Mill – Application for Ground Floor Gymnasium

I refer to the above mentioned planning application and have considered the supporting statement submitted by Nolan Redshaw, acting as the letting agents for this scheme. The RDA have also visited the conversion scheme on two separate occasions.

We are, of course, familiar with the planning policy restrictions applying to leisure uses within Primary Employment Zones (PEZ) but would ask the Local Planning Authority to take the following into consideration:

1. The Blue Pit Mill scheme is a welcome addition to the portfolio of accommodation which is available in the borough. It is particularly suitable for small to medium sized service sector companies, providing competitively priced accommodation in a range of sizes.

2. The comprehensive conversion of this relatively large mill complex into basement secure storage units, some free-standing workshop uses and office uses on the upper floors of the main mill is a welcome investment in this established industrial area and serves to reinforce the status of the PEZ.

3. The mill is, however, sited in a somewhat secondary location and a comprehensive scheme of this nature represents a high risk approach by the owner/developer. There is a significant outlay of capital involved in this type of conversion scheme and a substantial risk in attracting tenants, especially at an early stage.

4. We have taken the view that the proposed gymnasium use on the ground floor is ancillary to the dominant use of the main mill for office use (and secure storage in the separately accessed basement). Such a use is considered entirely compatible with the main use and would add to the commercial attractiveness of the scheme by offering business tenants and their employees an additional facility within the overall scheme. It could also provide a localised health and fitness facility for employees in the wider area, again helping to reinforce the role of this area as an employment zone.

5. In visiting the scheme we have noted that the physical configuration (open-plan space with high ceilings) lends itself to this type of gymnasium facility and would be expensive to convert to offices, particularly given the availability of better proportioned and more attractive spaces on the upper floors. A workshop type of use would not be appropriate with offices above the space. A gymnasium use would also bring activity and interest to this part of the building directly adjacent to the main reasons.

For all the above reasons the RDA is supportive of this application and feel that the modest scale of this facility and the wider context provided by the Blue Pit Mill scheme as a whole, means that it would not materially detract from the Primary Employment Zone designation as a whole.

The next step is for me & John to attend a forum meeting in Castleton next week so that we can stand up & say a few words about the proposal. I'm not really sure exactly when the council will make the final decision, but as I say, today is the last day for public comment. It may well be that the decision is made on the night of the forum meeting, who knows? What we do know is that we have the support of several councillors, one of which is the wife of another councillor who sits on the planning committee. He is not able to comment for obvious reasons but it is not without some confidence to assume we have his support too. With the application not being straightforward (i.e. there is now a lot of supporting evidence attached to the application) the decision is taken away from the planning officer & passed to the planning committee for decision.

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Magic Torch

Some great points raised in the letter. Gyms are often the hub in the wheel these days, most new developments will include gyms, even new office blocks etc, shopping centers and new housing complex's. There is a new developement of housing in Enfield N/E London, where the gym, shops, food outlets etc is in the middle of the 'new' town, I know of a few people who have moved there for this reason. It is a great gym tho, a guy called Mark runs it (who used to be Rhino on Gladiators, you might know him?).

If the council is sensible you should be fine, it would be awful press for them if it got turned down, and the story some how got told to the press with the negatives in BOLD letters

Good luck mate, I hope you can get in and get it started soon!

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Nine Pack

Thanks Magic. I think we'll be ok as we have some real heavyweight backing now. Bit of an old boys network/funny handshakle thing going on I reckon, but if it works in our favour then what the heck!

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Magic Torch

If they knock you back on any sort of building reg's, let me know and I'll have someone very good take a look.

Its all about networking mate, if we ever meet face to face I will tell you a funny story!

J

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Nine Pack

Thanks, I'll remember to keep you in mind then. We need regs for the mezzanine floor. I may be in touch...

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Nine Pack

Today is the day of the Castleton Community forum meeting so me & John will be attending. It is chaired by a councillor who is on the planning committee so this is an opportunity to make ourselves known & let people know about the proposal. The councillors wife (also a councillor) is 100% behind the proposal at Blue Pit Mill so with this, the Rochdale Development Agency & all the other supporting evidence sent in on our behalf we should get a fair hearing.

The decision is not made today, but this is an important meeting none the less.

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JohnOvManc

good luck mate

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shorty

yeah good luck to john and yourself... hope it all goes well!

will the explaining stick be going with you?? just in case lol....

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