10:42 am, March 30, 2023
A dealership in Greater Manchester has won permission to extend its opening hours in the face of opposition by residents worried about noise.
LSH Auto’s Mercedes-Benz showroom in Manchester Road, Whitefield, lodged an application with Bury Council to lengthen its weekday hours of 8am-6.30pm to 6am-10pm and to open two hours earlier on Saturdays at 6am.
Cllr Nathan Boroda was quoted by the Bury Times as saying that residents had told him the new hours would be ‘unreasonable’.
He told the planning committee meeting: ‘I’ve been speaking to residents on Ajax Drive which backs on directly to the Mercedes-Benz car garage.
‘I was there speaking to residents and the view is pretty clear, which is that the existing site is noisy in terms of cars being moved and the activity from the existing facility.
‘I think particularly changing it to 6am in the morning, from my perspective and a view I’ve picked up from residents in terms of noise, is unreasonable because on a Saturday morning people will be sleeping.
‘At 10pm, residents have a right to privacy. My objective is that this is thrown out.’
Fellow councillor Donald Berry also objected to the plans, saying: ‘I’d like to put in an alternative opening time considering they’ve not given a technical justification for it [other] than they would like it.
‘It seems to be arbitrary that they are opening a lot earlier than other Mercedes garages.
‘I’d like to put forward a 7.30am start and 8.30pm finish for a weekday and for Saturday an 8am start.’
However, his proposal failed to be voted through.
Planning officer Helen Leach was quoted as saying vehicles wouldn’t be moved between 11pm and 8am.
She also said the reason for changing the opening hours was solely to give customers the opportunity to drop off cars over a longer time period.
Leach added that a survey showed that noise from the proposal would be less than the background noise of the main road.
The plan was approved by a majority of the committee members.
Image: Google Street View
