By Alison WithersA PLAN for six retail warehouses and a drive-through restaurant has been approved on the casting vote of a council committee chairman.

By Alison Withers

A PLAN for six retail warehouses and a drive-through restaurant has been approved on the casting vote of a council committee chairman.

A last-ditch plea to stop the development going ahead on the former Shawlands industrial site in Sudbury caused deadlock yesterday on Babergh District Council's development committee.

After the votes were tied at six for and six against, committee chairman Clive Arthey used his casting vote to grant planning permission to site developers Parkridge.

The area's councillor Colin Spence had written to the committee, warning about the impact the development would have on people living nearby on Grange Farm Drive.

He said a roundabout leading to the Shawlands site and to Grange Farm Drive was already busy and the extra traffic generated by the drive-through restaurant could make it impossible for residents to get to their homes.

Grange Farm Drive resident Joanne Goody also told the councillors: “The impact on our lives will be tremendous, especially on the health and safety of our children.

“Our children will no longer be able to use their bikes. We will end up queuing to get into our own homes. The risk of accidents will be great.”

She added residents also feared people would park on Grange Farm Drive to eat their takeaways and the result would be large amounts of litter left behind.

But councillors were told similar layouts on the site had already been granted planning permission and the latest application proposed only minor changes to the previous schemes.

n A council's policy of protecting job opportunities in its district has meant the owners of a former mill have been refused outline planning permission to use their redundant site for 90 houses.

The application, one of three for the Nestlé Purina-owned Cornard Mills and the Limes site in Great Cornard, was refused because no attempt had been made to market it for alternative commercial uses.

But Babergh District Council's development committee did grant outline planning permission yesterday for a new railway platform and halt on the Marks Tey to Sudbury line at the site.

They also approved the conversion of a weighbridge building on the site into offices, as well as parking by the railway halt and a new access road.

alison.withers@eadt.co.uk