Coffee roastery told it must close its Harborough district café as it does not have permission to trade

A coffee roastery has been told it must close one of its cafés in the Harborough district as it does not have permission to trade.

Northern Cobbler expanded out into the county last year with the opening of its second café and a roastery at the Rolleston Lodge Business Centre near Billesdon.

But, just over 18 months later, the company, which first opened its doors in Leicester’s Queens Road, is facing the prospect of having to close down this second venue. Harborough District Council said the firm was breaking an agreed planning condition which state the site can only be used for light industrial use due to concerns about road safety.

The council issued an enforcement notice in February giving the company three months to close up shop. However, Northern Cobbler appealed the council’s decision and have continued trading, claiming changes to Government policy mean the café does adhere to the site’s permitted use. The appeal hearing will take place on Tuesday, November 22. A Government planning inspector will then decided whether to allow the café to continue trading.

When Rolleston Lodge Business Centre was created in 2016, concerns were raised by Leicestershire County Council as the highways authority over the impact of additional traffic on the busy B6047/Harborough Road with which it shares a junction. The route which links Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough had a number of safety measures introduced in 2011.

These included cutting the speed limit from 60mph to 50mph, as it had a high number of accidents along it. The council said any developments which increased traffic on the road would be detrimental to highways safety.

A planning condition was added to the Rolleston Lodge Business Centres approval restricting the authorised use of the site to what was then the B1c classification – light industrial use. At the time, café and restaurants were classified as A3. However, changes to Government policy in 2020 combined the classifications for shops, financial and professional services, restaurants and cafés and business, under the single Class E (Commercial, business and service). Planning policy typically allows for changes within a single class to be made without permission needing to be sought.

Northern Cobbler have argued this means their café is legal as both the agreed and contested uses fall within the same Class E group in an appeal statement. However, Harborough District Council contend that the spirit of the condition – to restrict use to light industrial use – is still relevant and should be honoured.

Leicestershire County Council have also weighed in to say the appeal should not be upheld as Northern Cobbler’s own assessment shows an increase in trips as a result of the café. Two planning applications to remove the contentious planning condition have already been rejected by Harborough District Councils in line with these concerns.

However, Northern Cobbler has said the small number of additional trips – around nine extra a day – is not grounds for refusal as local planning policy states permission can only be refused over ‘unacceptable safety impacts’ or ‘severe impact’ on the road network. The business argues the nine additional trips does not meet that threshold.

Should the planning inspector overseeing the appeal deem Northern Cobbler to be in breach of planning regulations, the company is expected to ask to keep the site open on a smaller scale. It has argued the roastery on site does constitute a light industrial use and a smaller café attached would be a secondary use. This would not be unusual for the industry, the firm added. Harborough District Council has indicated this could be acceptable if the full list of what would remain is submitted to them for approval.