Planners reject major expansion by Jacksons
PLANS to improve the Jacksons showroom have been rejected, over concerns that expanding the business would undermine the vitality of Town and Bridge.
The business, which is based by the airport, had applied to demolish outbuildings and erect a workshop attached to the current showroom.
It also wanted to install solar panels and change cladding of the main showroom.
The Rue des Landes site sits within the Forest local centre under the Island Development Plan, which includes the Happy Landings, Forest Stores and two churches.
Local centres can have limited development and should be community focal points.
But the plan dictates that the majority of shopping, employment and development should be in the main centres, around Town and the Bridge.
The proposal would see the workshop footprint increase from 505sq m to 806sq m and the parts store from 90sq m to 372sq m, with an area dedicated to specialist tools indicated as necessary for the business and accounting for an additional 153sq m gain.
The planners said this would make the overall footprint 1,535sq m, with the industrial component exceeding the footprint of Freelance and Bougourd Ford, which are both in the Bridge main centre.
‘The scheme represents a third increase in industrial operations at Jacksons, which is likely to undermine the vitality of the main centres.’
The changes are needed due to the changing nature of vehicle maintenance, particularly the electric vehicle market.
‘The need to accommodate service and repairs for both fuel and electric vehicles is recognised and is accepted will occur over a 10-year or longer time period and there is scope to consider an extension to an existing facility to accommodate this. To accord with policy however, the existing business needs to continue operations at the current levels.’
The planners queried whether the substantial increase in floor area was reasonable to accommodate the changes in the sector and whether the extension would represent an increase in site operations.
‘Based on the information provided, it is not clear whether the 58% increase in floor area proposed would increase the level of operation or simply the continuation of the existing business,’ the planners stated.
‘The increase to the parts store is considered excessive without appropriate justification as to the reasonableness of this aspect of the development.’
The plans would increase the internal car display floor area from 1043sq m to 1696sq m, with a decrease in external car sales/parking/circulation from 7,563sq m to 6,105sq m.
‘The increase would represent an expansion of the business, excessive in terms of the requirements of the local centre and the reasonable aspirations of the business to continue operations,’ the planners stated.
. Jacksons has been approached for comment.
