Thatcham Costa opens without planning permission

However, West Berkshire Council will not close it down while planning matters remain outstanding

COSTA Coffee opened in Thatcham on Tuesday without planning permission from West Berkshire Council.

Many customers have already visited the café, but the franchise owner, Steve Falle (pictured second from the right), admitted he has only just submitted a retrospective application for change of use of the unit in the Kingsland Centre, which was previously office space.

Mr Falle said that his plan was to get the business up and running as soon as possible so he would not lose money after buying the franchise.

He confirmed on Monday that he had now submitted his application and was confident of a favourable result.

He said: “Because we have spoken to [planning officers] previously, we are pretty confident that it does not warrant a rejection.

“We seem to meet all the planning requirements.

“I would be very surprised if they would turn it down.”

However, last year West Berkshire planning officers refused permission for restaurants in the main shopping area on the grounds that there were too many non-retail units already.

Mr Falle said that the previous applications were for food/drink use, but he was applying for mixed food/drink and retail use, as the coffee shop also sells products for home use.

He also said that this was the usual way he would do business.

“As soon as we signed the lease, we cracked on with the building,” he said.

“I have not tried to hide anything or do anything underhand.

“We just approached it in a way that we normally would.”

Not everyone is happy about the way Mr Falle has gone about opening his café.

Thatcham resident and businessman Martyn Herriott said that he was concerned he was trying to “roll over planning application permission”.

He said: “[Other developers] have done it in other places.

“They open the doors very quickly, get people to fill in a form saying they want it there and then apply for retrospective planning permission.”

Mr Falle said that Costa would be good for the town centre and other businesses, as statistics showed coffee shops increased footfall in precincts.

He said that he had looked into opening in Thatcham about two-and-a-half years ago but decided against it as there were about 21 empty units at the time.

He said: “I've only been looking at Thatcham recently, when the footfall increased slightly.

“I've been keeping an eye on it and it seems more viable now.”

West Berkshire Council spokesman, Phil Spray, said that planning enforcement officers visited the shop on Tuesday.

He said: “The franchisee and his agents are aware that they are at risk of enforcement because of the lack of consent.

“At this stage we have asked for a retrospective application to be made and this is in progress.

“The risk of refusal of that application lies entirely with the applicant, who would retain the right to appeal any refusal.”

He added that it was unlikely the council would seek to close down the business while planning matters remained outstanding.