3-11-09

Further to our meeting on site earlier today I am writing to confirm that I have hand delivered a Planning Contravention Notice (PCN) to the owner and operator of Amber Foods. The PCN asks 15 questions in regards to the intensity and operation of the business and a response is due within the next 21 days. The purpose of the PCN is to establish the degree to which the business operates as a distribution centre as well as a retail outlet.



I did approach the situation “holistically” with the owner and tried to encourage him to be less obstructive with his goods for sale and to be more considerate with regards to the use of his van. Although I will wait for the formal response to the PCN before deciding how to take this forward from the planning perspective it did appear to be a fairly small operation with Mr Khan doing the majority (if not all) of the work in the business. It appears that Mr Khan does supply some goods to over 50 restaurants, however, the operation delivers very small quantities – but to a large number of customers.



Mr Khan was quite upset during my visit and appeared to be very frustrated with the Council’s actions. It would appear that he is operating in a relatively un-sustainable way for such a small operation and as a Council we need to ensure that we are being fair to him whilst actively resolving the problems experienced by local residents. I will endeavour to, as promised, take this issue further with some of the other teams involved.



Thank you for meeting with me on site and I will respond to you in regards to the additional issues/properties you have raised separately.



Kind regards







Matt Gest

Planning Investigations and Enforcement Manager