Illegal ‘backyard’ barber shop could be allowed to stay in Smethwick
A backyard barber shop which was criticised by a council for being ‘poorly designed’ when it was built without permission could yet get permission to stay.
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An old garage in Edgbaston Road, Smethwick, was illegally converted into a barber shop last year and Sandwell Council went on to reject a planning application for the work despite it having already been carried out.
The applicant, listed as Mr Hassan, has now appealed the decision over the barber shop which means the government’s planning inspectors, who have the power to overrule Sandwell Council, will now make a final decision on the application.
If the inspectors decide to side with the council’s planners, the barbershop, known as Hadi’s Barberz, could be closed down and the building forced to return to its previous state.
Mr Hassan was permitted in November last year to raise the height of the garage in Edgbaston Road and add two new roller shutters but the council turned down his ‘retrospective’ move asking for permission to convert the garage into a barber shop.
The roller shutters added to the garage did not match what the council approved last year – with a new glass entrance and door built without permission from the council.
The council’s planners said the planned barber shop would be 300 metres from the ‘centre’ of Cape Hill – where a survey carried out by the council last year showed there were eight empty units. The council said shops should be built in the main Cape Hill shopping centre and not on residential streets.
Planners said the number of empty units nearby meant the proposals for the barber shop would fail its tests designed to protect the “vitality and viability” of the borough’s main – and defined – shopping areas.
The council also said the proposed barber’s on the Edgbaston Road and Grange roundabout in Smethwick was “of poor design” and “incompatible with its surroundings.”
“Although the proposed use is small scale, its location within a purely residential street with residents only parking, and restricted parking outside appears unsatisfactory, particularly given the close proximity of a centre with vacant units,” the council said in a report outlining the objection.
An application for a rear and side extension to 47 Edgbaston Road was approved in 2019.
