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Kelly's Kitchen is under threat of closure. We need your help

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Any comments that you make will be forwarded to the application case officer and will be taken into account when a decision is made. Please note that any comments you submit will be treated as a public document and will be open to public viewing on the application file and, in due course, on the Christchurch Council website. Also please understand that due to the volume of representations that the council receive it is not possible to give individual replies to each comment submitted. However you may continue to track the progress of the application on the Christchurch Council website.

All comments will go to the Christchurch Planners.
Lets not allow them to close Kelly's Kitchen.

DORSET COUNTY COUNCIL HAS NOW RESUBMITTED IT’S PLANNING APPLICATION TO EXTEND CHRISTCHURCH LIBRARY INTO THE PREMISES OCCUPIED BY KELLY’S KITCHEN.

This application if successful will force the closure of our long standing, well loved vibrant High Street business. Christchurch Borough Council and 12,000 individuals rejected the County Councils plans last year asking them to look at alternative ways to improve the library, stating that they did not want to lose Kelly’s Kitchen from the High Street.

Unfortunately it seems a small number of County Council members consider they know what is best for Christchurch; they do not seem interested in the views of Christchurch Borough Council planning committee who rejected the plans last time around and who are responsible for all other planning decisions in Christchurch. Councillors we democratically elected to represent our views are being discarded by Dorset County Council. I am astonished at this bullying behaviour from the County Council who seem to have a blinkered view that there is only one way to extend the library.    
We have emphasised many times that we fully support improvements to the library but simply feel that it is more logical to accomplish this without the loss of a vibrant High Street business. The  County Council have declared that a government initiative states that Christchurch Library should be three times its existing size. This I fail to understand when over the last ten years Christchurch library visitor numbers have fallen dramatically,  It has also been widely reported nationally that book borrowing from libraries has dropped by half in less than fifteen years so it is difficult to understand why such a large extension is necessary.

 The County Council should be aware that there is also a government policy to support local small businesses, not to destroy a successful business and create even more unemployment,  when there are clearly other alternatives within the present site that have been discounted by the County Council without thought to the amount of opposition. The present credit crunch has created a difficult time for many small market towns and Christchurch is no exception.

The possibility of relocating Kelly’s Kitchen elsewhere in Christchurch should this application be granted is slim for there are no other suitable vacant premises. The result is Kelly’s Kitchen could be lost from the High Street completely after seventeen years and completely unnecessarily considering there are other adequate alternatives to improving the library within the present site. 

IF YOU FEEL THIS PLANNING APPLICATION SOULD NOT BE PASSED AND THAT DORSET COUNTY COUNCIL SHOULD LOOK AT OTHER OPTIONS TO EXTEND THE LIBRARY PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM ON THIS WEBSITE. WE ALSO HAVE A PETITION AVAILABLE TO SIGN IN THE SHOP.

PLEASE LET’S STAND UP FOR CHRISTCHURCH AGAINST THE BULLYING TACTICS OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL.
Thank you for all for your continuing support.
Terry, Rose and Jo Kelly and all the staff at Kelly’s Kitchen.

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