The residents of Peel will have to wait to discover if their bid to block a major development will succeed.

Planners yesterday (Monday) voted to defer the decision on the three separate plans until they had conducted a site visit.

The applications have proved controversial with residents.

An association was formed to represent their views and the local authority objected to the plans as well. It was revealed during the meeting that Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer had written, as a resident, to object to the plans just before the meeting began.

The applications related to the car showroom site in Marine Parade and associated buildings on Stanley Road and Cross Street.

Owners Empire Garage Ltd has applied to clear the sites and build shops, flats and terraced houses.

Before the meeting, all but the application for permission to demolish the Cross Street site were recommended for rejection by planning officers.

Despite an attempt by the applicants to delay to hearing, members decided to continue, with planning officer Sarah Corlett saying Empire Garage Ltd had been given ’adequate time’ to submit additional information which it requested to do in May.

Miss Corlett noted that given the number of objections detailed in her report, the plans needed a ’redesign not additional information’.

She said her report noted that the three sites are separate applications but are ’inextricably linked’ and noted that all three would impact on the highway, particularly at the bottom of Stanley Road at its junction with the promenade.

Her report outlined that, while the design for the garage site had ’tried its hardest to make it fit in with its surroundings’, the mass of the building and lack of parking had proved problematic.

A representative from the government’s highways division also raised concerns over parking and a number of changes suggested to the road system in the area for the showroom and Stanley Road sites, which she told the committe ’were not done in consultation with us’.

She also noted that visibility splays for the car parks were not sufficient with some not done and others ’badly drawn’.

Residents Sarah and Steve Johnson who formed the Peel Residents’ Association to oppose the developments spoke to outline their and their neighbours’ objections to the plans.

No one appeared at the meeting to represent Empire Garage Ltd. Because of the deferment, the applications will be heard again at a later date.