After many years of hard work, and five trips to the magistrates court this year, we have been assured by council officers that Byronswell have moved their base of operations out of St Denys.

Following reports by your councilors to planning officers that Byronswell Ltd were operating without planning permission for their HGV operation, in August 2019 the clothing reselling company were forced to submit a retrospective planning application. Most Kent Rd. residents were mainly concerned about the disturbance and damage to their homes and parked cars. Initially planning officers were reluctant to refuse the application but after pressure from Cllr. Savage, we were able to successfully argue that such large vehicles were a danger to the highway, with large HGVs reversing into the site as a standard part of the operation.

In November 2020, the planning application was refused. After lengthy delays, Byronswell subsequently submitted an appeal to the planning inspectorate. Eventually the planning inspector examined the evidence and in July 2021 the appeal was refused.

Planning officers made repeated calls to Byronswell and were given numerous assurances that they had plans to move imminently. Continued failure resulted in their first magistrates court appearance in February 2022 where they claimed not to understand the charges they were facing. Eventually, and after four further magistrate court hearings and two fines of £500 and £5,000 respectively, they moved out Sunday 30 October.

I would like to thank all the local residents who kept me up-to-date with HGV movements and provided the photographic evidence of planning breaches. Dealing with the courts can be a lengthy and frustrating process but with solid good work and patience, we got there in the end.