Batleys on McDonald Place seeks temporary permission to trade on Sundays (Ref. 15/02378/FUL)
The business has applied for a temporary variation on Condition 3 of planning permission 834/88 (as amended under appeal Ref. PPA-230-2114, dated 19 June 2014) which would allow them to operate between 8.30am and 5,00pm on Sundays between 2 August and 7 September.
Condition 3 was imposed to afford local residents one day a week's respite from the growl of delivery lorries, the hiss of brakes, the peep-peep-peep of reverse warnings, and the ear-shattering crash of trolleys and cages bashing about in the car park.
This is not the first time Batleys has sought to restore some Sunday trading (see Breaking news, 29.10.14). Dressing the new proposal up as somehow supporting local independent shops and the capital's arts scene is unlikely to cut any ice with neighbours.
They will rightly see it as a potential thin end of a very fat wedge.
What would come next if this application were successful? Temporary variations for the 101 other festivals popping up over the year? What about Mother's Day, Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night, Christmas, Hogmanay, Easter, International Labour Day, and the Midsummer Solstice?
It is surely not beyond the wit of local traders to plan ahead, or to get their supplies somewhere else. Come on, Batleys ... give it a rest.
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