City Centre Restaurants (CCR) is planning to build 100 OK Diners throughout the UK following the Environment Secretary’s decision to grant consent for a neon-lit steel diner near Chesterfield, Derbyshire. The site is designated as open countryside in the local plan.
The decision is one of the first since Environment Secretary John Gummer issued PPG1 with its emphasis on design as a feature of planning consents.
Tim Moss of Grimley’s planning department, and advisor to OK Diner, admitted that neon lights is often a reason for the rejection of an application. But he added: “In this case the site is adjacent to a petrol filling station which meant this was seen as the dominant environmental feature rather than open countryside or the more traditional buildings in the area.”
Moss added: “This decision gives strong guidance on siting road side diners in specific locations rather than scattered around the countryside. He has said this particular site is acceptable for an off-road development; I do not think he has said the principle is universally acceptable.”
Having already opened 17 OK Diners in the UK, City Centre Restaurants is looking for another 54 sites. CCR, which has already won nine planning consents, is now waiting for decisions on another 20 applications.
EGi News 07/03/97
