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Councillors blast Greenwich Pier restaurant signs

July 6, 2012 By Rob Powell

COUNCILLORS have thrown out a planning application for signs and advertising already installed at the new Zizzi restaurant at the Greenwich Pier development.

Greenwich West councillor, Maureen O’Mara, blasted the restaurant for not having have the “guts” or “courage” to be at the meeting of the Greenwich Area Planning Committee on Wednesday night.

She said: “What I wanted to ask them if they had the guts to turn up is, ‘Why did you do this without any planning permission at all?‘”

The clearly furious councillor added, “This is a World Heritage Site. It’s one of the most precious sites in London. I’ve heard that they say, ‘this is what we do wherever we open up places‘. Well, this is Greenwich and we do not do this in Greenwich. This horrible application needs to be turned down.”

Councillor Dick Quibell (Peninsula, Labour) said the plans were “violently out of keeping with the tone of a World Heritage Site.” Councillor Hayley Fletcher (Hornfair with Kidbrooke, Labour), who was earlier elected as Vice Chair of the committee, commented that the signs looked “hideous.”

Conservative councillor Geoff Brighty, representing Blackheath Westcombe, said he had found the Pier development “disappointing” and that the signs were “trashy.”

The committee unanimously voted against the restaurant’s lettering, menu box and window signs, despite council officers recommending the plans be approved.

Councillors also had the chance to determine the signs, and proposed parasols, at Frankie and Benny’s.

Claims were made by the applicant that advice had been sought from the council before their signs were initially put up but this was disputed by council officers and councillors decided to investigate that point and reconsider the applications at September’s meeting of the committee.

Commenting to Greenwich.co.uk the day after the committee meeting, Paul Mitchell from The Restaurant Group, said they would “proceed with the current application” which they believe is “appropriate for the area”, but added that they would “continue to liaise with the Planning Officer who has been dealing with our application and take advice.”

Asked whether the company had experience of opening branches in sensitive heritage sites, Mr Mitchell commented:

“As a Group we do have a number of sites in our portfolio in sensitive areas where we always work with the Local Authorities and other relevant bodies to achieve a signage scheme which is mutually acceptable to all parties.

“We always seek dialogue and guidance before an Application is submitted to ensure a successful and speedy decision and that our Advertisement Applications take into account the needs of the community in which we are operating.”

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Cllr Geoff Brighty, Cllr Maureen O'Mara, Greenwich Pier, Planning Decisions

Changes agreed to Planning committee system

January 27, 2011 By Rob Powell

More objections will be required for future planning applications before they are referred to council planning committees following a decision taken at last night’s full council meeting.

Currently a planning application that receives two or more objections will be referred to the local Planning Board by council officers, but this threshold is being increased to eight.

The cost saving measure is estimated to cut the number of applications considered by committees from 179 to 75 in a year and result in a saving of £27,000 in 2011/2012.

Council officers say that at least ten London borough have a higher threshold than that which is being introduced in Greenwich, or they leave referral at the discretion of officers and members.

Conservative councillors voted against the plans, with Cllr Alex Wilson suggesting the plans wait til the Government’s Localism Bill has been published – expected to make many changes to local planning rules – and Cllr Geoff Brighty questioning whether applications could be dealt with in a timely manner if the number of meetings were being reduced.

Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Peter Brooks, backed the plan and said that the proposals could be reviewed at the council’s AGM in May.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Borough-wide, Cllr Alex Wilson, Cllr Geoff Brighty, Cuts, Greenwich Council, Peter Brooks, Planning Decisions

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