COUNCILLORS have granted a retrospective planning application which was made after a Motherwell business took over a piece of public green space to build a storage yard.

Around a year ago Chinese takeaway Panda Villa, located in Motherwell High Street, converted an adjacent plot of land into a storage area for construction material and equipment, two portacabins and parking spaces. It is enclosed by a two-metre-high fence.

The council received 51 objections but these do include multiple representations from the same household as well as more than one objection by the same person. Newarthill Community Council is one of those objectors.

Complaints raised include the access being intended for pedestrians only, the yard not being required to operate the takeaway, the fence blocking vision for vehicles and pedestrians and other road safety issues, possible drainage issues and the creation of a further two parking spaces not mentioned in the application.

Some objectors called for planning enforcement action to be taken and for the development to be removed entirely.

During the hearing councillor David Robb (SNP, Motherwell South East and Ravenscraig) noted the considerable number of objections and asked if enforcement action would be taken.

He said: “This has been in situ for quite some time now, about a year or so. The applicant has made no attempt whatsoever to amend what is currently on site.”

He asked how the planning conditions suggested by the council’s planning officers would be monitored and, in the case of non-compliance what sort of response could be expected, and also whether the council had applied any charges or fines due to the applicant simply taking a piece of public greenspace.

“They had no permissions and in fact no rights at all to do this,” he added.

A planning officer confirmed that the council was aware of the concerns raised by the community and there would be monitoring to ensure conditions were met, but that planning enforcement was not designed to be punitive. He said that the applicant had been cooperative in submitting the application so there had been no fines or anything of that nature but this would have to be revised if the application was rejected.

He added that issuing a fine would limit the other options available to the council by means of applying conditions to the approval.

The committee then approved the application, subject to the list of conditions proposed which are primarily designed to limit the development’s impact on road safety. These include reducing the height of the fence to one metre, installing an entrance gate, moving one of the portacabins, formally approving vehicular and pedestrian access routes, and defining which parts of the yard are allowed to be used for storage of construction materials.