Calls for Quays bid for huge food and drink area to be debated in public
A request by Gloucester Quays to change its planning conditions to allow it to open one of the biggest restaurants in Gloucestershire caught the eye last week. Here's the latest update.
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Plans which could see what would be one of the county’s biggest restaurants open at Gloucester Quays could be debated at a public meeting.
The retail outlet owners want a planning condition clarified on the limit put on food and drink floorspace at the site.
They want Gloucester City Council to take account of a new restaurant tenant for units 73 to 76 which have been vacant since construction and were earmarked to be shops, according to the planning application.
The floorspace of the new food and drink area would be around 691sqm.
This would be bigger than the nearby vacant former TGI Friday’s which is around 480sqm and the The Lord High Constable of England, J D Wetherspoon at Llanthony Warehouse in the Docks, which is around 565 sqm.
Gloucester Quays LLP say in their proposals that tenants within the outlet change from time to time and there have been regular submissions to the City Council to confirm where units with leisure use are located.
More here: Bid to open 'biggest restaurant in the county' at Gloucester Quays
One of the site’s planning conditions allows a maximum of 3,590sqm of floorspace within the factory outlet shopping area which includes the main outlet and areas along Baker’s Quay, Merchants Road, High Orchard Street and Llanthony Road.
And they want to update this to include the unused units in High Orchard Street.
“After nearly 20 years since the granting of the outline planning permission for Gloucester Quays, the Numold element of the site has not come forward for development and reserved matters applications on this part of the site which could have potentially benefitted from the ‘allowance’ are not now possible,” they said in the plans.
“Given the ‘allowance’ was only an estimate not based on any detailed proposals, it is considered reasonable, especially taking account of the passing of time, that the residual ‘leisure’ floorspace ‘allocated’ to the Numold site be redistributed.”
Councillor Howard Hyman (LD, Westgate), who is one of the councillors who represent the area which covers the Quays, is going to call for the proposals to be debated and decided by elected members.
He said: “This is seeking a change to the original planning permission.
”The appropriate body to deal with this is the planning committee.
“I am asking planning officers to take this to the planning committee.”
By Carmelo Garcia, local democracy reporter for Gloucestershire. carmelo.garcia@reachplc.com