Retrospective planning permission is being sought to use a former college building owned by the Issa brothers’ charity for functions and events.
Last month, the charitable body, set up by the family of Blackburn billionaire brothers Mohsin and Zubair Issa, was told it did not have the necessary planning permission for the use.
The building in question is at St Mary’s College in Shear Brow, which closed as an education establishment in 2022 before being bought by the Issas.
The council took enforcement action following complaints from residents living in the area about excessive noise and dangerous parking outside the venue.
Now, a planning application has been lodged with Blackburn with Darwen Council so that events and functions can run at the site again.
It says: “Consent is sought for the change of use of a building at the former St Mary’s College, Shear Brow, Blackburn, into two private hire function hall rooms. The space was formerly the college’s assembly/lecture hall.
“The proposal includes the retention of the site’s existing access along the western aspect of the wider site. The existing parking provision associated with the wider site will also remain unchanged as part of the proposals.
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“The proposed function rooms would cater for private events such as wedding receptions, birthdays, music events, and conferences. They would be available for hire mainly on Thursday and Friday evenings and on weekends.”
The statement continued by saying there is “much demand” for this type of development in Blackburn and the proposal is considered “to put the vacant site to good use.”
It added: “The proposal creates jobs for local people as well as contributing to sustainable economic growth, and has positive supply chain effects.”
Last month, the council served a temporary stop notice on the owners of the site, the Issa Foundation, and the leaseholders of the site, Inara Events Ltd.
This notice is for a breach of planning control, with planning permission not being secured for a change of use for the building to allow functions and celebration events to be held there.
Inara Events Ltd was also issued with a Community Protection Notice Warning letter, stating they must ‘take reasonable steps to ensure that its customers do not cause excessive noise – including drumming, shouting, and singing.’
It added reasonable steps must be taken to control customer parking to ensure no nuisance is caused to residents and no danger is caused to pedestrians and other road users.
Even after the temporary stop notice expires, the venue will not be allowed to operate without the necessary planning permissions in place.
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