New drive through coffee shop and bakery approved for Eastbourne Tesco

A planning inspector has approved plans to build a pair of drive throughs within the car park of the Tesco Extra in Lottbridge Drove.

The approved plans will also see the re-location of the ‘click and collect’ facilities as well as the relocation of the recycling area as well as work done to the car park.

While recommended for approval by officers, Eastbourne Borough Council’s planning committee had refused the development back in 2021, after raising concerns about both noise disturbance and highways safety.

The council said at the time: “The proposals would, by reason of the increase in traffic to, through and from the site, lead to an increased risk of highway safety issues, the proposed use would have an adverse impact upon air quality at and within the vicinity of the site and the proposed development would, by nature of its use, create undue noise disturbance to neighbouring residential occupants resulting in a loss of residential amenity.”

Neither of these concerns were shared by the planning inspector, who pointed to the lack of objections from either East Sussex Highways or the council’s own environmental protection team.

The inspector then opted to overturn the council’s decision and grant planning permission.

In the approval document, the planning inspector said: “The council did not submit a statement by the deadline of November 30, 2022. Furthermore, no extraordinary circumstances were advanced for an attempted late submission.

"The planning application had been recommended for approval by council officers, in the absence of objection on highway grounds from its internal specialist consultees. It can only be deduced from the minutes that of the meeting that took place on December 14, 2021 that council members relied on their own assessment of submissions, informed by the familiarity with the site and local conditions, to refuse the application for this reason.

"There is no clear technical evidence before me to justify a conclusion that the proposed development would result in congestion or excessive vehicle movements that would give rise to a safety risk for pedestrians and road users.”

For further details of the proposals see application reference 210772 on the Eastbourne Borough Council website.