Plans to transform Chan’s Chinese Take Away Fish & Chips in Kingskerswell have been approved, marking a significant change for the prominent Torquay Road premises.
Teignbridge District Council has granted permission to convert the ground floor of the site into office space, bringing an end to its long-standing use as a takeaway and paving the way for a new commercial future.
The approved works also include replacing the existing front display windows and door with new ones of a similar design, fitting a new uPVC door to the entrance serving the maisonette above, removing an existing vent duct from the rear elevation, replacing a rear timber basement door with a roller shutter door, replacing some rear uPVC windows and blocking up two side-facing window openings.
Council papers say the building has “a long history of use as a hot food takeaway”, while the upper floors remain in residential use as “a single three-bedroom dwelling/maisonette flat”.
The basement at the rear is used as a store, and the application made clear that only the ground floor use would change, with “the basement will remain as a store and the top two floors will remain as a residence.”
Planning officers concluded there was “no in-principle land use planning objection” to losing the takeaway use at the site or introducing an office instead. In their report, they said the proposal was “acceptable in principle” under local policy supporting business development within settlement limits.
The report also set out what officers saw as the wider effect on the area. It said the proposed use “would be compatible with adjoining and surrounding land uses and is not likely to detract from either residential amenity, road safety or the character and appearance of the area”.
It added: “The elevational changes would help to refresh the appearance of an existing building that has come to appear somewhat tired and would thereby enhance the appearance of the building and hopefully assist in attracting a commercial occupier for the currently vacant commercial premises to the benefit of the local economy.”
The main concern recorded during consultation came from Kingskerswell Parish Council Planning Committee, which “questioned where the parking provision was for those working in the offices.”
But the case officer said the site already had parking arrangements in place. According to the report, the application form indicated “that there are three existing and, including retained spaces, that that are three proposed car parking spaces, a net change of 0 (zero) spaces”.
The officer also noted that private parking is available to the rear and that further parking is available on Torquay Road, concluding that office use was “unlikely to generate greater overall demand for staff and visitor parking” than the previous takeaway use. “Existing parking provision is therefore considered adequate to serve the development proposed,” the report said.
