Café plan will be positive for Wisbech town centre

Plans to make a former health food store into a café could have a positive impact on the 'viability and vitality' of Wisbech town centre.

That was the summation of Fenland District Planning officers when they considered an application by Mr and Mrs Dennis of 52 Hill Street, Wisbech, to make alterations to 50 Hill Street, which was previously Hardy's before becoming, briefly, the Baltic International Food and adjoins the former Bygones Restaurant.

The owner, who already runs a hot food establishment in the town, wants to open a café within the building, and as a result of national changes to planning rules does not have to apply for a change of use because shop and café now come under the same category.

However, they want to instal a new shop front with an external seating area and also want to change part of the ground floor to domestic use.

A report drawn up by Fenland District Council planning officer Danielle Brooke explains a previous application for the new shop frontage, external seating and installation of a flue was approved and "therefore the principle of development has been established".

However, the latest proposal now includes the change of use of part of the groundfloor for domestic use, which has prompted the new application.

The report adds: "The change of use of the premises from retail to a café has already been established under the previous consent where it was considered that as the application site was located within the town centre boundary, primary shopping area and primary shopping frontage it could be supported for a non-retail use at ground floor."

It adds: "The unit has been vacant for a number of years and the benefits of bringing the unit back into use will have a positive impact on the vitality and viability of Wisbech."

Jules Hanrahan, designing out crime officer for Cambs Police, said it was difficult to determine the risk of crime as the figures over the last two years, which would normally be sufficient, include Covid-19 lockdown.

However, he said: "I would consider this to be an area of medium/high, risk to the vulnerability to crime at present. Whilst there doesn’t appear to be mention of crime prevention and security measures within the documentation it appears these have been considered. This appears to be an acceptable layout in relation to crime prevention and the fear of crime. The proposed café is positioned within a busy pedestrianised area of Wisbech."

Wisbech Town Council supported the application when it was consulted.

Approval of the application was subject to a number of conditions.