Oriental food shop granted change of use to massage parlour in Scarborough

On Monday March 20, Scarborough Council approved the change of use of a retail unit on 59 Victoria Road for the “continued use of a former oriental food shop to a massage shop”.

The site is near the Scarborough conservation area and lies within the defined development limits of the town and close to the town centre.

Victoria Road is made up of a long row of shops and other commercial premises that reach from the A165 near the police station until it meets Castle Road.

A council report said that “it appears the premises may have been used as a massage parlour in the past although there was no planning permission for this”.

The latest use of the site was as an “oriental food shop” before which it was a sandwich shop and then a video-hire shop.

No objections were made by the Highway Authority or the council’s environmental health officer and no public letters were received during the consultation period.

The planning authority said that the massage parlour use is likely to generate a “similar or lesser levels of traffic and parking requirement” than the former shop, and as such would not add to congestion on the street.

With regard to neighbourhood amenity, the report notes that the site’s use as a massage parlour “is not a noisy activity” and would be likely to attract fewer visitors than a neighbourhood shop or newsagent and raised no amenity concerns.

Whilst council policy seeks to resist the loss of retail shops, the report concludes that the property has a varied history and falls within an area that is “a mix of retail, hot food shops and a variety of other 'service' uses” including cafés, pubs, estates agents and beauty salons.

The report added: “There would be no identifiable 'harm' arising from the proposed use, as there are many other shops remaining in the immediate locality, and numerous empty commercial properties”.

The plan was approved by the planning authority subject to conditions.