30-10-09

From: Richard.delacour@sussex.pnn.police.uk
Subject: RE: Amber Foods - Western Road

Date: Friday, 30 October, 2009, 7:03 PM



I can assure you that we are working together with NSL parking & the affected departments within the Council (Highways & trading standards) to address the many issues surrounding Amber foods.

Obviously what we are after at the end of the day is for all parties to peacefully co-exist whilst maintaining the free flow of traffic along western Road with no obstructions for vehicles or pedestrians alike.

A joint professionals meeting was held last week and Mr Khan was visited 2 days ago by PCSO Julie Wornham and Mat Thomas, an Antisocial Behaviour case worker from the Partnership community safety team.

It would be innappropriate of me to discuss the contents of either meeting but could I please just ask that should you, or anyone else you are in contact with become aware of any information or witness any incident which is anti social in any form, that you record as much detail as possible and pass it on to PCSO Julie Wornham who is collating all incidents. However frustrating it may be I would please ask that no-one reacts or intervenes, that all incidents are reported through the correct channels and this will ensure that we have a clear and untarnished view of the incidents.

I would be very grateful if you could please pass this message on to your East Brunswick Contacts.

I have copied PCSO Wornham into this email so that you are aware of her email address.

Regards

Richard Delacour
Inspector

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