Dear Sirs,

I am writing to formally object to planning application DC/11/78332/X concerning 76-78 Honor Oak Park, London, where Dominos Pizza Group LTD has applied to turn the premises into a Class A5 hot food takeaway unit. The site is a building of historic importance and of particular aesthetic relevance to the area. It is the building first viewed when entering the parade, and has changed very little over the last 120 years. It sets a very positive tone for the area as it stands today. It would be of great detriment to the parade to have this popular Victorian building sullied with gaudy corporate logos, particularly as other recent additions to the parade have tried so hard to gentrify and improve the aesthetics of this part of the area.

Under STC9 of your conditions, take away hot food shops will be granted permission where they satisfy the following principles:

(b) they do not harm the living conditions of nearby residents, including that created by noise and disturbance from users and their vehicles, smell, litter and unneighbourly opening hours; and
© parking and traffic generation is not a danger to other road users, public transport operators or pedestrians.

In addition applicants will be expected to provide acceptable arrangements for:
(d) the efficient and hygienic discharge of fumes and smells, including the siting of ducts - which should be unobtrusive;
(e) the collection, storage and disposal of bulk refuse and customer litter; sound
roofing, especially to living accommodation above; and
(f) the impact on neighbours of the proposed opening hours which will normally be restricted to 8.00 am to 12 midnight in the Major and District Centres and 8.00 am to 11.00 pm in Local Centres and Parades.

76-78 Honor Oak is a large retail unit; presumably Dominos plan to use it as the hub of a relatively large distribution network of scooters covering neighboring areas as well as Honor Oak itself. This will require a sizable fleet of bikes, which will presumably be parked on the pavement. The surrounding area is a residential street, and the noise created by the bikes will be a constant nuisance to residents. Parking in neighboring streets is already in severe constraint due to the adjacent station, to have cars coming and going to collect pizzas will make this problem worse. The installation of large extractors to the rear of the property will generate additional smells and noise for local residents.

Additionally, in URB 8:

The Council will seek to establish and maintain shopfronts of a high design quality by:

(a) retaining shop fronts of quality, either original to the building, or of particular value. If this is not physically possible, the replacement should use appropriate design and materials;
(b) requiring all new shopfronts, including signs, to relate well to the original framework and scale of the building within which they are placed. Existing original fascia and pilasters or columns which form the shop surrounds should be retained or reinstated, including where shop units are combined. Materials should also relate well to the building and be of high quality, the use of timber will be encouraged, and the use of aluminium discouraged. If this is not physically possible, the replacement should be of a sympathetic design and use appropriate materials.

The corporate rebranding of the site will irreparably change the aesthetics of one of the most attractive shop fronts in Honor Oak. The corporate signage of the applicant in nearby areas has not been sympathetic to original architecture, examples of which I can provide on request.

A petition has already been lodged online against the use of this site for a Domino’s Pizza and the application has received a negative reception on the local community forums, which attracts tens of thousands of visits a day.