Costa Coffee Drive-Through Plans in Ebbw Vale to be Decided Next Week

PLANS for a drive-through branch of Costa Coffee in Ebbw Vale will be back in front of Blaenau Gwent councillors for a decision next week.
A decision on the scheme by Huddersfield-based Commercial Development Projects Limited for land next to the KFC on Waun-y-Pound Road was postponed at the last Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Planning Committee meeting in January.
The application is for A1 and A3 planning uses which includes restaurants and cafés.
Councillors will be expected to decide the application at the Planning Committee meeting on Thursday, February 8.
At the insistence of the agent, Mathew Gray of Montagu Evans LLP, the application was deferred at the January meeting.
He wanted the wording for the application changed to include coffee shop.
A previous application for a Greggs drive-through bakery at the site had been given the green light by councillors in February 2023.
Effectively Costa Coffee is to replace a Greggs drive-through bakery, which was claimed could create “15 to 20 jobs.”
Mr Gray was told by planning officers that if he insisted on the tweaks a decision on the application could be delayed for some time.
But he was happy to wait for the wording to be changed.
Planning officer Sophie Godfrey said: “The agent on reflection was of the
opinion drive-through bakery did not accurately describe the proposed use by
Costa.
“Whilst this concern is not shared by officers, who are content that the
description covered the intended works, the application was deferred.
“It has been agreed that the description be amended to include coffee shop.
“As the use class would remain unchanged, and the description would remain
materially the same, it was not considered necessary for the application to be withdrawn and resubmitted or for statutory consultees to be re-consulted.
“However, in the interest of clarity and transparency, the application was re-advertised with the amended description and neighbouring properties were re-consulted. ”
In the past residents have raised concerns on the previous versions of the proposal.
They believed that the scheme would see an increase of traffic, loss of privacy, and more rubbish which would lead to an increase in the number of rats in the area,
They also said that the proposal would “encourage” unhealthy eating.
Due to the new three week consultation period not finishing until Monday. February 5, Ms Godfrey said that any further correspondence about the application would be “reported verbally” to councillors at the committee meeting.
She advises councillors to approve the plans.
Before building work can start a further sustainable drainage application will need to be approved. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​