Plans to convert a home’s garage into a private gym have been rejected after neighbours complained of noise problems with ‘bootcamps’ held at the house.
An application was submitted earlier this year to Sefton Council for change of use permission for 2 Stanley Park in Litherland.
The proposal was to run a gym from the property operating between the hours of 6am and 8pm. According to the application, gym activity would be restricted to a total of eight hours a day within those times.
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The application was for retrospective permission and the applicant stated a gym had already been operating from the home since November 2021.
Several objections were received from local residents concerned about noise and traffic in a residential area.
One neighbour said they had already experienced issues from “collective exercise” being carried out in the garden of the home during classes advertised by the applicant as a “bootcamp.”
Others expressed concern that extra traffic could be created, which would add extra pressure from an existing GP practice already across the road from the property.
One resident said that if the plans were approved the gym would be just over a metre from his living room, which was situated in a converted garage next door, causing noise problems.
In a report published last week, planning officers said the applicant had failed to provide sufficient information about the impact of noise or how it would be mitigated, although the applicant did state that doors and windows would be kept closed during sessions.
However, the report said: “Depending on the activities within the building, the closing of windows and doors may not be sufficient to adequately contain the noise generated within.”
Referring to the bootcamp one resident had complained about, the report notes that the applicant has told officers they no longer hold the bootcamps at the address and would only be working on a personal trainer capacity with a maximum of three clients an hour.
The report said that even with three clients an hour this would create potential problems for other residents, stating this “would generate a reasonable amount of coming and going, which again could be disruptive at this early time.”
Rejecting the application on the grounds of insufficient noise impact assessment, the report added: “It fails to demonstrate that the development would not give rise to a harmful impact on the living conditions of surrounding residential properties.”
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