Community support for a proposed motorbike servicing garage in Kirkby Stephen is revving up — with one town business owner saying: “If the council stop this they need to sort themselves out.”
Adrian and Janet Burton have resubmitted a planning application to Westmorland and Furness Council to turn a redundant storage building — which faces the town’s Faraday Road — into a garage able to carry out servicing, repair and MoT of motorcycles, after the authority refused approval for the proposal in October, last year.
Mr and Mrs Burton, who attended a meeting of Kirkby Stephen Town Council to provide an update on their venture, were told they had made a really nice job of the shop fronting on to Market Street which provides a sales area for their motorbike business, with repairs taking place to the rear on to Faraday Road.
Information supplied with the planning application states: “The proposal would result in the repurposing of a currently underused building in the conservation area. In doing so a future viable use would be secured for the building — one that is sympathetic to the current built form including existing openings. The only material (visual) change would be the replacement of the existing doors and windows.
“This would improve the external appearance of the building, including fixing the broken/missing windows, and generally smarten up the local, edge of conservation area, street scene.”
Kevin Fail, of Krusty Bike Barn, said the proposal can only be good for local businesses. “I myself run a motorcycle shop in High Street and to have this workshop opening will be a godsend for me, keeping the money I spend on work and parts going to a local business.
“Noise would be miniscule, especially compared to traffic running down Market Street and the back street with cattle mart traffic. If the council stops this they need to sort themselves out. What about the noise of lorries travelling through Kirkby Stephen that aren’t allowed to, but do, I don’t see anything being done.
“You have a local lad and his family trying to start a new venture in Kirkby Stephen — you should all be encouraging this, not worried and objecting to mystical traffic noise of one or two motorcycles a day going to a local business on a slow road where their noise would be minimal.”
The first planning application was refused by the council in October, with officers saying: “The proposal would involve the introduction of an industrial use in close proximity to existing residential dwellings and the application fails to adequately establish that the proposed use, comprising the servicing/repair and MoT of motorcycles, would not be detrimental to the occupants of nearby residential properties by reason of the noise and general disturbance it would potentially create.”
Following that refusal, the applicants sought advice from a noise consultant. The application is now supported by a detailed noise assessment which they hope will address the previous concerns raised by the council’s environmental health department.
