Woman says plans for sausage roll giant’s new drive-thru restaurant will force her to sell house
- EXCLUSIVE: Kathy Skinner, 51, has bemoaned plans to change an outdated pub
- She fears what impression elevated ranges of visitors, litter and air pollution might have
- ‘Why do they assume it is acceptable to destroy somebody’s sanctuary for revenue?’
A lady claims she is being compelled out of her own residence by plans for a Greggs drive-thru subsequent door.
Kathy Skinner fears elevated ranges of visitors, litter in addition to air and light-weight air pollution might destroy the ‘sanctuary’ of her semi-detached in Southcote, Reading.
The plans will see a strip of land subsequent to a disused pub reworked right into a new department of the sausage roll large – with the drive-thru prolonged up to Ms Skinner’s boundary fence.
The 51-year-old has been left feeling blindsided by the event, main to her contemplating leaving her roughly £275,000 dwelling altogether.
She advised MailOn-line: ‘I’m going to be writing to Greene King and Greggs. I would like to ask them the easy query: Why do they assume it is acceptable to destroy somebody’s sanctuary for the sake of revenue?’
She continued: ‘It’ll run inside metres of my house. I get that I reside on a busy street however the vehicles usually are not that shut to my again backyard.
‘As a results of this drive through, there will be noise and air pollution instantly into my backyard, and I’m an avid gardener – I purchased my house for the backyard, it is the place I eat.
‘Essentially now I’m going to be sitting consuming with automobile fumes coming over my fence.
‘I simply assume that is Greene King wanting for a straightforward resolution to creating some land they could not sell.
‘It’s really a gorgeous constructing, it could be a disgrace to see that go.’
The plans are for the outdated George & Dragon pub, to be bulldozed and changed by an all-new constructing to house the Greggs bakery, surrounded by the drive-thru lane, a 33-space automobile park and out of doors furnishings.
And as a lot as Ms Skinner is annoyed by the change of neighbours, her greatest gripe is with the way in which the applying was dealt with, solely discovering out concerning the plans from her neighbour – having seen no discover on the pub itself – and delivering a immediate grievance.
However, Reading Borough Council say they delivered 204 letters concerning the plans to locals, receiving simply 5 objections.
But Ms Skinner insists that of six neighbours she managed to pay money for – all of whom reside behind the positioning of the pub – not one obtained such communication.
‘Either their publish room was having a foul day or Royal Mail was having a foul day,’ Ms Skinner advised.
She mentioned, subsequently, that it was ‘a kick within the tooth’ to discover out that the council had accepted the plans in December.
The native council have additionally defended their place by saying that the plans have been a minor change to the positioning’s objective, going from a pub open from 11am to 11pm to a drive-thru working from 6am to 11pm.
According to Ms Skinner, they are saying that this meant it didn’t get robotically put via a PAC (pre-application session) – which might have aimed to enhance the applying prior to submission.
Ms Skinner added: ‘What I actually now object to is how they are saying it was a minor utility. I would like to say, “did you even look at this?”
‘I will be going again to them. I would really like a solution as to how they assume this is not going to have a major impression on the instant neighbours.
‘Lighting – as soon as once more – inside metres of my boundary fence. They will say that fashionable expertise can focus the sunshine down nevertheless it’s nonetheless going to deliver a major quantity of sunshine air pollution into my backyard and my neighbours’ again bedrooms.’
Asked what she although would have been a greater use of the land, Ms Skinner advised a parade of outlets, ‘actually inexpensive housing’ or a repurposing of the prevailing George & Dragon constructing.
‘It might’ve been one thing so a lot better,’ she added, ‘something that will deliver a way of group.’
Although Ms Skinner will wait to see if there may be any signal of a reversal, or if residents will take the planning resolution for an ‘costly’ judicial evaluate, she doesn’t count on to be staying within the jurisdiction of the identical council ought to she select to transfer.
‘If I do transfer, I’ll be transferring out of Reading,’ she concluded.
A spokesperson for Greene King mentioned: ‘The George & Dragon has been closed for virtually 4 years and regrettably even as soon as Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted the pub was not economically viable to reopen.
‘We have opted to work with Greggs to deliver the world again into use and create quite a few native jobs.
‘We took our proposal to Reading Borough Council final yr and have been happy to obtain approval for the scheme in December.’
Reading Borough Council and Greggs have additionally been contacted for remark.
