COUNCILLORS will be recommended next week to approve changes to Minehead’s Blenheim Gardens Cafe in a last hurrah for Somerset West and Taunton Council’s (SWT) planning committee.
The committee’s final meeting before the council is abolished next Friday will see members debate an application by Cafe 21 owner William Wynn to refurbish and alter the park’s existing derelict cafe building.
Mr Wynn is required to renovate and bring the cafe back into use as a condition of SWT leasing him the derelict building, which has been closed since 2018.
SWT planning portfolio holder Cllr Mike Rigby said Mr Wynn had ‘made good recent progress’ and he was confident the gardens would have a café again by next month.
Cllr Rigby said new windows and an entry door had already been fitted, repairs to the roof were complete, and a new kitchen was being installed.
He said other elements such as a new decking area and an accessible ramp would be discussed by the planning committee on Thursday.
SWT planning officer Russell Williams said in his committee report the proposals would help Mr Wynn bring the disused cafe back into a functional use.
Mr Williams said it would benefit the community and local economy, enhance the appearance of the building, and conserve the character and appearance of the town’s conservation area without any ‘significant adverse impact’ on residential amenity.
Minehead Town Council lodged strong opposition to the plans, and 41 letters of objection were received from local residents, but Mr Williams said many of the concerns had been resolved with amendments to the application or could be dealt with by imposing planning conditions.
He said the kitchen and toilet were now being kept as part of the project, proposals for a mobile catering unit had been dropped, concern over proposed opening hours of 7 am to to 11 am could be restricted by conditions, the sale of alcohol was not included and would in any case require a licensing application, and disabled access via an adjacent car park had not generated any safety concerns by county highways officers.
Mr Williams said many of the public comments referenced the relationship between Mr Wynn and the nearby Bar 21, in The Avenue, but this was not relevant to bringing the cade back into use.
Neither was concern about the way SWT tendered for and awarded the lease, details of which it had kept secret at the time.
Mr Williams said the plans did not include the provision of alcohol or change of use to a bar, which would be a separate legislative matter and not material to considering the planning application.
He said much of the work was internal alterations which did not require permission, there was no change of use involved, and the opening hours had been agreed with Mr Wynn to reflect the 8 am to 8 pm times when the gardens were open.
Mr Williams said raising the flat roof of the kitchen, adding a decking area and fencing, and alterations and replacement of windows and doors would alter the appearance of the building but not enough to damage Minehead’s conservation area.
He said it was important to remember the cafe had deteriorated over the years and negatively impacted Blenheim Gardens and the proposed work would rejuvenate it and enhance the park and the wider conservation area.
The level of visual harm caused by the decking and fencing was ‘at the lower end of the scale’, while the ramp was important for safe access for people with reduced mobility who could not manage the existing concrete steps.
Mr Williams said it was ‘regrettable’ the ramp had to be accessed from the car park at the rear of the gardens and not from the front of the cafe but it was not sufficient grounds to refuse the application overall.