Temporary car-park deck for busy shopping centre refused

A TEMPORARY parking deck for Christmas shoppers at a busy retail park has been turned down by councillors. Sainsbury s submitted an application for a deck over the existing car park at the Colney Fields shopping centre in Barnet Road, London Colney, in No

A TEMPORARY parking deck for Christmas shoppers at a busy retail park has been turned down by councillors.

Sainsbury's submitted an application for a deck over the existing car park at the Colney Fields shopping centre in Barnet Road, London Colney, in November.

The 57-metre by 70-metre deck, which would have been in place for six weeks over the festive period, would have provided parking for 116 additional cars.

But planning officers recommended refusal for the structure due to concerns from the parish council and Herts Highways on the grounds that it could increase traffic and set a precedent for a permanent application.

Councillors on the Plans South committee agreed with the recommendation and refused the application at their meeting on Monday.

Cllr Chris Brazier, planning portfolio holder, said while the committee agreed in principle with the idea of alleviating parking problems at the site, they did not have enough time to look at the proposal put forward.

He said: "They were leaving it very late. They did not give us enough information - we didn't see anything on the structure and the safety of that structure and these sorts of questions need to be more thoroughly addressed."

Cllr Brazier also said that there were concerns that if planning permission was granted it would set a precedent for a more permanent structure to be built.