PLANS to turn a former cafe site on the A45 into an office block have been approved.
The former Ace Cafe, in Weedon Road, Dodford, will now be home to three new office buildings. The plans, which include associated parking and landscaping, were agreed at a Daventry District Council (DDC) planning committee meeting on Wednesday last w
eek.
Despite objections from Weedon Bec Parish Council that the development would be detrimental to the area and would increase traffic, councillors went with their officers’ recommendation and approved the scheme by a vote of six to four.
A former resident of Weedon attacked the plans saying they were dangerous and that he believed it was a backward step for the council to approve the application. Cedric Pulford, speaking at the meeting, said: “The road is already hugely busy, including heavy lorries, and is dangerous for cyclists. The proposed development requires access that would be difficult and hazardous.
“It would send a very contrary message if the council that is so visionary on transport were to approve such a retrograde measure as offices in the open countryside.
“Alternatives mode of access to the Ace Cafe site are limited to non-existent.”
Councillor Steve Osborne told the committee: “I was hiring a van near the site and it took me seven minutes to get on to the A45 at 5.10pm. I am not keen on this application.”
The Ace Cafe was opened in the 1950s as the Truckers’ Hut, a wooden building on stilts, and was used later as a truckstop and a cafe with some car sales. The buildings were demolished in April 2005 having been left derelict for 20 years, becoming a target for vandals and graffiti.
Planning permission for the site to be turned into a 78-bedroom hotel was granted in January 2004 but developers were unable to find a buyer for the scheme, leading them to submit plans for an office block.
