To Whom it may concern,
The committee of the St. James Residents’ Association has resolved to comment on these proposals as follows;
Whilst we can see in principle the reason for this order, and in the main agree, we are very concerned that residential properties that border industrial sites may be disadvantaged by the relaxation of planning laws.
All houses that border or are overlooked by industrial buildings should have the right to know and object to what is being planned for the adjacent buildings.
Many properties in the area are overlooked by and adjoin industrial units, under this proposal at any time they may install windows or such like, which may directly overlook these properties and invade the privacy of the occupants and they would be powerless to have a say on the matter. Whilst referring in this instance to windows, light reflection from windows can also cause a nuisance where it did not exist previously.
Of course nuisance may also be caused by changes other than windows, for example a change of use for the premises concerned, this may be fine in the middle of an industrial estate but where residential properties adjoin they should have the right to comment and object where it unduly affects them.
A change of use for example could have a massive impact on a residential property which may well affect house prices and lead to a degraded quality of life for the resident. It is also unclear how this order will regulate business and keep a check that businesses are acting lawfully within the order, in terms of processes that may lead to noise, dust smoke etc, etc.
We do not believe the potential impact on quality of life for the residents that adjoin industrial buildings has been adequately addressed by the Equalities Impact Assessment.
Every person has a human right to a quality of life and to enjoy their home peacefully. It may be that these proposals will infringe on people’s human rights if they have not got the right to challenge an act that may infringe upon his/her human rights it could leave the Council open to legal challenge.
Our comments are based on real experience and knowledge and we urge you to consider them seriously. Our request is we feel fair and reasonable and we urge the council to make this concession within this consultation
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