Mansions being built by the billionaire owners of Asda were branded 'the five ugly sisters' in a complaint aired at a town hall planning committee meeting. And a councillor called the Issa brothers' attitude towards planning rules 'a joke and a shambles' at the same meeting.
A row over the EG Group owners' half-built identical homes in Billinge End Road area of Blackburn in Lancashire erupted at Blackburn with Darwen Council planning committee on Thursday night. Mohsin and Zuber Issa's scheme to knock down eight houses and replace them with five new luxury residences caused uproar in 2018, with local residents strongly opposed to the development.
The Blackburn-headquartered company was started by the brothers, who built up their Euro Garages empire from scratch from a Bury petrol station and bought Asda in 2020 in a £6.8bn deal.
Now the family have had to seek authorisation for changes made to the conditions imposed on the development four years ago, reports Lancs Live.
This led to two more objections from neighbours and Tory councillor Derek Hardman demanding to know how the family could be allowed to get away with ignoring conditions imposed by the committee on the scheme.
The new application, by Mohsin's son Sauban, sought to vary four conditions because 'as construction works have progressed, the applicant has made a number of working amendments to the approved scheme'. The changes concerned increasing the size of houses, revising the landscaping scheme, relocating driveways and amending the tree protection measures.
Ian Whalley wrote to the committee, saying: "As I understand it, this is an application made by the developer to 'ratify' breaches of the existing plan. They shouldn’t have built them any bigger. They should not have removed any more trees.
"The whole thing has been a pantomime. What we are left with is not two but five ugly sisters. Because I have been against this grandiose plan for the start, I would object to all the variations requested."
Liz Beaumont's objection, meanwhile, said: "I feel each and everyone of us deserve consideration of our lives and chosen lifestyles, not just the rich and powerful within the borough, who seem to take a feudal view of the running of our town. I am filled with horror as I look out of my window to the trees in the Billinge End site and know their likely fate."
Livesey with Pleasington's coun Hardman told Thursday's meeting: "Why is this not a full retrospective planning application? We have had enforcement officers on the site regularly.
"The family's attitude to planning rules is an absolute joke and a shambles because they keep ignoring them. Residents are fed to the back teeth. I am sorry it’s a joke."
Borough planning manager Gavin Prescott said: "The amendments represent modest changes to the previously approved development. The proposal will continue to deliver a high quality housing scheme consistent with the council’s planning strategy for growth and widening the choice of accommodation within the borough."
After the changes were approved by six Labour votes to three Conservative ones committee chairman coun Dave Smith said: “They are actually trees now. Some of them are beautiful. We are going to end up with five very impressive buildings."
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