Planners reject bid to create 10 apartments above nightclub

TOWN planners have rejected a bid to create 10 apartments above a late-night nightclub in Warrington town centre.

The application site involved a three-storey brick building situated on Friars Gate in Warrington Town Centre.
The building fronts directly onto the footpath and is separated from the adjacent corner building to the east by an alleyway which leads through to service areas and Friars Lane.
The building is currently occupied by a late-night nightclub, Voodoo Bar, on the ground floor, which gives its opening times listed online as Tuesday until Sunday, with opening hours until 6 am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The ground floor would remain as leisure use.

The application by Pod property proposed internal alterations to the first and second floors to accommodate 10 no. apartments, eight of which would be one-bedroom and two would be two-bedroom. The communal residential entrance was proposed on Friars Gate, with a cycle store also proposed at ground floor level. External alterations were also proposed to the building’s side elevation, which runs along the adjacent alleyway, including new opaque glazing at first floor level and the removal of two windows on the floor above this.

But planning officers said the location of the proposed dwellings, above a club and adjacent to other late-night venues, means that there is likely to be an impact on residents and the Council would be required to investigate any complaints. The agent of change principles in the NPPF require any development to be incorporated without adverse impact on existing and nearby businesses. The submitted acoustic survey includes mitigation and measures to limit noise and vibration. These are considered impractical or so complex that a partial failure of one measure would result in the development being unsuitable.
As such, the proposal would fail to provide an acceptable standard of amenity to habitable rooms and would provide a poor environment for future occupiers.
The application has been refused under delegated powers.