The family-run Greenfield’s boot fair was forced off of the site to allow the development of a proposed Tennis Academy last year, and so moved to the Sans Pareil field near Wainscott, Rochester.

However, the plans have yet to be finalised, and the earliest likely start date for development is the end of 2010.

As a result, the Greenfield family have been given permission to use the field for a fourteen-week run, beginning on Easter Sunday (4 April), after which they would have needed planning permission to continue.

Once the fourteen weeks is up, the family will return to the new site in Strood.

Pitches can be booked by calling Mark Greenfield on 07811 022987.

A controversial planning application for the former Shell garage site on the A2 has been refused by Medway Council’s Planning Committee.

Boundwell Ltd had applied to build a shop, hot food shop and two apartments on the site, but the Planning Committee ruled that the proposals would be detrimental to the area.

Councillors from Twydall and Rainham Central had spoken against the application before the committee decision refusing the application on the grounds that:

1. The proposed take away would be likely to encourage indiscriminate parking on the main A2 (a busy distributor road) in front of the site and in the general vicinity and this would prejudice conditions of highway safety on the A2 London Road. The proposal is therefore contrary to the provisions of Policy T1 of the Medway Local Plan 2003;
2. The proposed use would be prejudicial to the amenities of the locality by virtue of additional noise and disturbance, anti social behaviour, smells and inconvenience to local residents. This would be contrary to Policies R18, T1, BNE2 and BNE3 of the Medway Local Plan 2003; and
3. The proposal would be likely to generate an increased number of turning movements into and from the site onto the A2 London Road, where there has been an increase in vehicle numbers on the A2 since the former petrol Station closed, and this would add to the number of accidents in the area contrary to policies T1 and T2 of the Medway Local Plan 2003.

The application had been met by mixed responses, with 79 favourable comments and 56 comments against. 206 responses were?received?in total.

The Rainham Central Conservative councillors said that “we do realise that something has to be done with the site and also called for it be redesignated as housing” whilst Paul Clark MP thanked everyone who opposed the campaign. ]]> http://www.viewfrommedway.co.uk/2010/02/01/proposed-a2-development-refused-planning-permission.html/feed 0 http://www.viewfrommedway.co.uk/2009/11/23/somerfield-closed-wednesday-night-for-refit.html http://www.viewfrommedway.co.uk/2009/11/23/somerfield-closed-wednesday-night-for-refit.html#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:24:16 +0000 Alan W Collins http://www.alanwcollins.co.uk/2009/11/23/somerfield-closed-wednesday-night-for-refit.html The Somerfield petrol station in Twydall will be closed Wednesday night while the fascia is changed to display the Co-operative Food logo, AlanWCollins has learned.

Staff at the store, who will leave work on Wednesday wearing their Somerfield uniforms for the last time, will arrive on Thursday in their new Co-operative uniforms.

Sources have said that the forecourt will close at around 8pm on Wednesday night and re-open early Thursday morning, although workers may need Thursday night as well to link the tills up to the Co-operative system.

The meeting, organised by and on behalf of residents, to discuss proposals by Boundwell Ltd to erect a shop, a hot food shop and two apartments will take place at the Rainham Mark Social Club on London Road (map below).

The meeting, on Thursday (26th November) starts at 19:30. All are welcome to come and have their say.

Boundwell Ltd have applied for permission to develop the land at the former petrol station located at 16-22 London Road, Rainham.

The proposal being made by Boundwell Ltd is to erect a shop, a hot food shop and two apartments.

All local residents are invited to attend the public consultation this Friday (20th November), which starts at 19:00 in the school hall at Rainham Mark Grammar School in Pump Lane (map below), to inspect the plans and discuss the proposals.

The Somerfield petrol forecourt in Cornwallis Avenue, Twydall, looks set to undergo its re-fit within weeks, AlanWCollins has learned.

Although, at present, the?time frame?is only a rumour, it is one which has come from a trusted source, and is believed to be true.

Originally, the Co-operative Group looked set to sell the forecourt after its acquisition of Somerfield Stores. Now, however, they have decided to keep the shop, which, at present, also contains a free-to-use ATM from Nationwide and an in-store bakery.

Rumours are that the petrol station will be displaying the unmissable green fascia (like the one at Princess Parkway, in Manchester, above) by Christmas, although the refit could be completed as early as the end of November.

It is an old agreement that dates back to the day the land was given to the old Gillingham Borough Council for the use of the people of Twydall.

It was with some shock, then, that I received a phone call on my way in to work on Sunday warning me that a sign had gone up in Twydall Green car park, stating a maximum parking time of 20 minutes.

Most people who know the area could tell you that you could easily spend at least as long queueing in most of the stores in the Green, if not longer, so I failed to believe even Medway Council could impose such an unrealistic restriction.

So, when I finished work, I headed over to the car park (for once I had actually managed to secure a place outside the Co-op) to find out the actual restriction is just as unfathomable:

The maximum parking time in Twydall Green is now 20 hours.

How on Earth does the council intend to police this? Are they going to employ Civil Enforcement Officers round the clock to ensure someone who parks there at 07:00 on day one is gone by the end of 20 hours at 03:00 on day two? And what of people, such as myself, who park up for something, drive off then return again within a few hours for something else?

In theory this appears to be the council restricting the people of Twydall from using the land as per the original agreement.

In practice this appears to be an unenforceable restriction which will have no affect on the people of Twydall whatsoever.

Update 03/04/09 @ 13:15

I stand corrected.

A colleague of mine at the Co-op has just informed me that the restrictions have been in place for about a year.

As with most bloggers, I rely on my sources (and this one is usually reliable) but it is up to me to check the facts in any information given before posting, or making it obvious that the facts have not been checked.

In this case the only fact I could check – and did – was that the parking restrictions were in place. I could not check that they were new.

I’ve always known parking in Twydall Green is free, so I have never looked for the parking restrictions board, so did not know it has been there for some time.

Apologies to anyone who may have found this post a bit misleading.

I’m sure we’ve all seen the sorry sight that is yet another once-popular (if rowdy) Twydall pub now boarded up and looking as though it has reached the end of its life.

The Royal Engineer in Twydall Green closed at the beginning of the month as one of hundreds of pubs closing every month, victims of the ‘smoking ban and rising beer and utility prices’, according to former Men of Kent Landlord Karen Spendiff.

Well unlike The Sportsman and many other deserted Medway pubs, this watering hole may in fact have a happy ending thanks to new owner Alan Yeung.

Mr Yeung owns the restaurant chain Yeung’s, with restaurants in Chatham, Ashford and Faversham.? Last week, he added the Royal Engineer to his list of properties and is keen to reopen soon.

He told the News: ‘We don’t know exactly what we will do yet – it is all in the very early stages’.

However, according to the News, it is likely to ‘follow in the footsteps of the Men of Kent in Rainham High Street’, which was sold by Enterprise Inns and is ‘due to become an Indian Restaurant’.

After the Woolworths site was quickly reopened, it is reassuring to note that yet another empty bulding in Twydall Green will not stay empty for long.

A Customer Contact Assistant at the Medway Planning Office has confirmed to me that the Twydall Discount Store broke no rules in opening in the old Woolworths site.

The confirmation was made that, as the new business comes under the same use class as Woolworths (‘class’ A1 – retail), then no planning application was required and thus local businesses did not need to be consulted on its opening.

However, no planning application was made for the new sign above the store, which was erected on Tuesday. Shop signs don’t always need planning permission, but the rules are more complicated, and the Council is now investigating whether a planning application should have been made or not.

The Collins Comment

Looking at the sign (pictured), I would personally guess that no planning application needed to have been made. However, this running commentary is primarily dedicated to this comment on a post which has quickly generated a lot of interest.

In response to Andrew, I would firstly like to confirm that I am, in principle, not against the opening of new stores and indeed, in the present climate, find it encouraging when new stores do open. In actual fact, as Rob pointed out, the focus on my article seemed to have been missed.

My understanding at the time was that, from a legal perspective, a new businesses was required to inform the surrounding businesses of their intention to open, in accordance with planning laws. As stated in my article, this was not the case with the Twydall Discount Store, yet this has since been confirmed to be that I was, admittedly, wrong, and that such a scenario would only occur when a change of use application was submitted.

Secondly, I was merely reporting the views of local businesses owners and employees (as an employee of one of the stores in Twydall Green I am privy to such opinions and share information as and when needed). They were, unnecessarily in my (and their subsequent) opinion, worried about their own businesses and those surrounding them, with one believing it could turn Twydall Green into a “ghost town”. Surely as a local blogger I am able to report the thoughts of local people without being accused of holding Socialist ideals?

Finally, again as highlighted by Rob, I was commenting on how shoddy the opening of the store was and how vacant it still felt in there at the time. However, it now appears that all the shelves are about full, and the rumours are that the rest of the space will be taken up by a restaurant/cafe (unconfirmed). For business owners who, reportedly, have other similar businesses, the opening, as I tried to comment, was frankly embarassing and left many curious shoppers either confused or disappointed.

In terms of acting by the law, I believe that they have – but it is up to Medway Council to give a verdict on the sign.

Although they appear to have bought the whole of the old Woolworths store, and from outside the front of the store it looks promising, the store itself takes over just over one-third of the shop floor space and many of the shelves are empty.

The “grand opening” was supposed to be at 9am, but it wasn’t until 08:50 that the store owners turned up and many potential customers were left confused as to whether or not the store was actually open.

Nevertheless, despite the disappointing start and feel of the store, local business owners were left frustrated and angry.

One informed me that they had received no notice of the intention to open a discount store, whereas when they opened their shop, all other business owners had to be informed and given the opportunity to register their objections.

There are also concerns about the viability of the existing businesses if the discount store becomes too competitive.

Only time will be able to tell the measure of potential damage to the local economy from this latest arrival.