‘Stone’ shopfront in Shoreham allowed to stay for three years

Louisa Anderson, owner of LA Nails at 94 High Street, said she had spent years building up the business and bringing customers to Shoreham. She argued that the changes were intended to brighten the town rather than harm its conservation area.

Councillors ultimately approved a planning permission for the salon’s white faux-stone cladding and pink and white striped awnings for three years, despite officers recommending refusal.

Speaking at the planning committee meeting, Ms Anderson said she had not realised planning permission was needed because the salon had previously received a conservation award for an earlier shopfront design. “I can only apologise for the fact I overlooked that,” she added.

Ms Anderson also questioned why her shopfront had been challenged when she believed other modern developments in the conservation area were being allowed.

She said: “I feel this is a real personal attack on my business.”

She told councillors she had gathered support from more than 1,000 people who wanted the shopfront to remain.

She said: “What you are doing to my business is quite simply going to collapse a business that is very, very vulnerable.”

She added: “I’m happy to show you that we have now got payment plans with the VAT and the tax department because we have had to use every resource that we’ve got to fight this case.”

Ms Anderson explained that she had needed make improvements to the front of her shop after finding rotten wood.

She described the new finish as ‘a simple white rock’ and said it was easy to clean and maintain.

The council’s heritage consultant, however, found the artificial stone cladding to not be fitting the surrounding character of the area.

Planning officers said the white finish and texture of the walls were ‘intrusive’ to the high street, while the awnings had been fitted to different sized windows which they described as giving a ‘poor-quality appearance’.

The application was retrospective because the alterations to the shop had been made in March.

Two letters of objection were received, with one describing the cladding as ‘not in keeping with the conservation area’.

A customer spoke in support of the salon at the meeting. She said: “Personally, I think the exterior of the salon is really beautiful. It’s vibrant, it’s distinctive and actually, it’s become something of a landmark on our High Street.”

Councillors debated whether permission should be limited to two or three years, with Ms Anderson saying a shorter period would have a significant financial impact on her business.

They agreed that the three-year period would provide a compromise between the salon owner’s concerns and the committees reservations about allowing the changes to remain for too long.

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the application for three years, with additional advice that the shopfront be kept in good condition and that the applicant contact the planning team after the end of the period to discuss the next steps.

The permission does not guarantee that the shopfront can remain permanently and any future proposal would need to be considered via the planning process.