Planning in the pipeline again for Pinner Starbucks

There has been an ongoing saga with the planning status of the café, in High Street, which lies in a conservative area and has attracted a loyal following.
When the multi-national chain originally opened the store in 2007, it considered the shop a takeaway and so believed it did not need to apply for a 'change of use' for the premises from retail to coffee shop.
However, Harrow Council contested this description and told Starbucks it would need retrospective planning permission after all.
The business did apply for a certificate of lawful use - and was refused permission in February 2008, and again in June of that year because, the council's planning committee, agreed the proposal would result in an "unacceptable loss of retail frontage, leading to a loss of vitality of the shopping parade and Pinner District Centre as a whole".
Coffee lovers even set up a 'Save Pinner Starbucks' group on the popular social networking site Facebook in support of the company against the council's stance.
Now Starbucks has applied for retrospective continued use of the premises as a mixed use coffee shop that has part retail (A1 use) and part coffee shop (A3 use).
Statistics provided to support the chain's application shows that 65 per cent of the sales are for food and drinks consumed on the premises and 35 per cent are taken away.
"The coffee shop retains a significant element of Class A1 (retail) use, both through the retail display, the sale of merchandise and the sale of coffee and sandwiches for take-away purposes," Starbucks' documents said.
Councillor Marilyn Ashton (Conservative), Harrow Council's portfolio holder for planning, development and enterprise, said: "Starbucks has made a number of attempts to route around the proper planning process for this store.
"It seems clear they believe that the longer they can drag this out, the more likely it is the council will just give in at some point.
"They should be aware we are not in the business of being intimidated by large corporations and will take enforcement action if we believe it necessary."
The council served an enforcement notice against Starbucks' unauthorised use of the shop and that expires on October 23 but the current planning application is only likely to be decided by November 26.