Planning Community left with 'no confidence in the system'

PLANNING bosses have faced questions about allowing a gym in Bristol to operate without planning permission and how that "damages trust in the system".

- Alex SEABROOK

Kulture has been open since July 5

Kulture Training Club in Fishponds opened in July but then two weeks later was refused planning permission.

But Bristol City Council has allowed the gym to stay open, despite complaints from neighbours about music blaring in the early hours. Developers must apply for planning permission for all sorts of things, like converting a building into a gym - in theory.

But in Bristol little enforcement takes place if permission is refused and the development goes ahead anyway. Planning permission is supposed to protect neighbours from cowboy builders too, with conditions that are meant to prevent nuisance, but these are not always enforced. The equivalent of only four and a half full-time employees are working in the enforcement team.

The council's planning department has been in disarray for the past few years after a recruitment freeze led to a huge backlog of applications, and then the Government put the department into special measures. While huge progress has been made in getting rid of the backlog, attention is now turning to clearing the backlog of planning enforcement cases, with new staff being hired.