Project Overview
Acting on behalf of Wesleyan Assurance Society, Bell Cornwell has recently helped secure planning permission for a coffee shop with drive-thru at Pynes Hill Business Park, Exeter. Bell Cornwell mobilised the project team to work up the proposals and submit a well-designed scheme.
Initially, the local planning authority took a negative view of the proposals, stating that they would be reluctant to support a new building in a prominent location. Bell Cornwell argued that from a planning point of view the adverse position from the local planning authority was unreasonable, especially given that the proposals benefitted from support within the Council’s development plan that allows the provision of amenity facilities to support employment areas, particularly where there is clearly under provision of such facilities.
Through links with senior officers at the Council, Bell Cornwell were able to engage positively and secure in-principle support for the proposals by further reiterating the planning policy position and presenting an analysis of other examples of similar development across the city that provided numerous precedents.
Bell Cornwell were also able to work alongside the wider design team to overcome objections relating to urban design and highways in order to make the scheme acceptable and more sustainable, which included the provision of a shared use cycle/pedestrian path, covered cycle path and further soft landscaping.
