THE controversial Costa Coffee planning application for Crediton high street will be measured against the council’s planning policies in determining whether to approve or refuse the application.

One of those policies is that within primary shopping areas, at ground floor level the proportion of A1 retail uses will not be permitted to fall below 65 per cent of all units.

In the case of Crediton the primary shopping area extends from Ivory Secret to Tesco Express on the south side of the High Street and from Crediton Tandoori to the Indian Lounge on the north side.

The council currently accept that the percentage of A1 retail was 67.93 per cent in October 2016 and my calculations agree with this figure.

In their supporting documentation Costa claims that the proposal “would bring a vacant unit back into gainful use and retain a significant proportion of A1 use”, in order to justify the percentage not falling below 65 per cent.

In fact the proposed floor plan shows that only about 10 per cent of the ground floor area will have an A1 use and more than 80 per cent an A3 use.

Weighting this proportion to take account of the fact that the A1 area is at the front of the premises gives a figure of about 15 per cent A1 use and 85 per cent A3 use.

The use is therefore predominantly A3 and should be wholly allocated as such and not the 50:50 claimed by Costa.

Transferring No 28’s current A1 use to A3 use reduces the percentage of A1 retail uses to 61.5 per cent; ie. less than 65 per cent. On this basis the application should be refused.

Keith Mortimer

Searle Street

Crediton.