Western parishes to get 'slice' of the action as Domino's plans approved

Tuesday 05 November 2024

Fast-food pizza chain Domino’s is set to open a branch in St Brelade after its planning application was approved following an appeal.

Domino's Pizza Group PLC first submitted the proposals to transform coffee shop Common Ground at Red Houses into a hot food takeaway in April 2023.

The plans, put together by Origin Architecture Studio, included various internal and external alterations.

However, these were refused in March, with the Planning Department claiming that the site's "intensification" of use "would lead to unacceptable harm to highway safety and traffic generation" and therefore was contrary to certain policies in the Bridging Island Plan 2022 – the island's overall planning agenda.

The fast-food giant, which already has a branch in St Helier, appealed the decision.

Pictured: There is already a Domino's pizza store in town.

After a hearing in August, as well as further work carried out to provide highways and traffic advice, the application has now been approved, subject to conditions.

The Planning Inspector, who heard the appeal, threw out the case from the Planning Department's Highways advisor who claimed that the St Helier store had caused "significant concerns in terms of disruption to the highway and parking manoeuvres".

The Inspector said that no evidence was provided to substantiate that claim, adding that the location of the Red Houses site was "significantly different" to the St Helier site.

They also noted that Domino's had agreed to lease four private car parking spaces for its staff in the private car park adjoining the adjacent public car park, meaning that staff would not need to take up spaces within the public car park.

The Inspector concluded: "I find that the proposed development would not result in harm to highway safety and that it would not be contrary to Island Plan Policies."

Environment Minister Steve Luce said he agreed with the findings and reasoning of the Inspector and gave his final approval to allow the appeal on the conditions that the development commences within three years of his Ministerial Decision and is carried out "entirely in accordance with the approved plans".

The third condition states: "Prior to first operational use of the takeaway hereby permitted a Parking Management Strategy shall be submitted to and agreed in writing by the Chief Officer.

"The Parking Management Strategy shall include details relating to the parking of staff and delivery vehicles to set out measures to avoid convenience parking on the public highway.

"On approval, the Parking Management Strategy shall be implemented in accordance with the agreed details and thereafter retained in perpetuity unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Chief Officer."

Documents submitted as part of the application explained that the new pizza takeaway would service the west of the island, where the existing town branch does not currently deliver.

"There is a distinct lack of takeaway outlets in close proximity to the west of the island," the supporting statement explains, adding that "there is considered a demonstrable market need to service the west of the island, providing similar facilities in Les Quennevais to that provided in St. Helier".

The supporting statement also says that the new Domino's store also has the potential of providing "additional employment opportunities".