Calls to site the pharmacy in a town centre building

• The applicant provided justification and reasoning setting out why it was not able to use existing units in the town centre.
• Laws introduced in 2013 under The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 (As Amended) stipulates that no pharmacy can open within a mile radius of an existing one. This means that the proposed pharmacy’s operator could not take over a disused town centre location as it would be in proximity to Boots on Fore Street and Day Lewis on Bell Lane. As those two pharmacies were opened before 2013, their applications were considered under previous regulations.

The use of a temporary building

• Cornwall Council’s planning department concluded that a three year period of time was acceptable for the building, after which the applicant must reapply to retain the building or replace it with a permanent construction.
• They added that it was the applicant who wished for the application to be for a temporary building, adding that it allows time for the viability of an additional pharmacy in Bodmin to be established, with the site easily returnable to its current state if a permanent building is not given permission.

Impact on adjacent residential housing

• Cornwall Council said that the building would not have a major impact on the residential area, noting that there was already precedent for retail facilities in the area.
• They cited Morrisons Daily and Spar, on St Mary’s Road and Rock Lane respectively as examples of this.
• It noted that the properties on the road were of ‘limited architectural merit.
• The planning department said that after the three year period, they would seek a building permanent nature that ‘responds positively’ to the street scene.

Security of the temporary pharmacy

• The planning department said that additional security fencing was added to the proposals in order to address concerns from residents and Devon and Cornwall Police.
• CCTV, security lighting and security fencing all feature in the plans and is stipulated as a planning condition.

Impact on residential amenity

• Cornwall Council’s planning department said that the portacabin was ‘modest in both footprint and height’ and given its distance from neighbouring properties would not be overbearing.
• It was considered that with the building being 3.3 metres from 12 Queen’s Crescent it would not be unreasonable overbearing or overshadowing of the property.
• They added that the fencing height of the property would be permissible under permitted development rights.

Parking and Highways impact

• The provision of four staff parking spaces and three customer spaces was considered sufficient.
• The council’s planning authority stated that as Queen’s Crescent is a 20 miles per hour speed road, adding: “Road users would naturally be aware of potential emerging vehicles from the number of existing driveway accesses leading onto the road including the one immediately adjacent to the application site. The road is wide passing the site at approximately 5.6m with sufficient space for two vehicles to pass.”
• They did not consider that the addition of the pharmacy would impact on the nearby road network due to its extremely ‘small scale’.