Bromley (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A Beckenham scaffolding yard has won its planning appeal against Bromley council despite neighbours’ concerns over safety risks to children.
Between a playground and a primary school, at the end of an access road, lies Masons Scaffolding, which is situated behind Churchfields Road Reuse and Recycling Centre. In November 2023, Masons relocated their activities without obtaining planning approval to the London Electricity Board Depot at the end of the access road.
Bromley Council requested that Masons submit a retroactive planning application in the spring of 2024. Locals responded negatively to the application in large numbers; the main concerns of the 440 objectors were the noise produced by site operations and the HGVs entering and exiting the site.
Prior to enforcing enforcement on the property in January 2025, Bromley denied planning permission in October of last year. Masons filed an appeal against the denial of the planning authorization and the enforcement.
The deputy head of Churchfields Primary School and a number of residents of Churchfields Road testified during this investigation that there had been “a number of near misses” between pedestrians and HGVs turning into the scaffolding yard outside the school. Masons denied this, saying they had a banksman who made sure all HGV operations were “perfectly safe” during school drop-off and pick-up hours.
This Monday, Melissa Madge, the planning inspector, delivered her verdict, supporting the scaffolding company and giving it temporary planning approval to use the yard for five years, subject to some restrictions.
Residents of Churchfield Road provided video footage, but Ms. Madge was “unconvinced” that the HGV movements “constitute a severe risk to highway safety.” Additionally, she didn’t think that the number of cars coming and going from the site was dangerous because there is already a lot of traffic in the area because Churchfields Road is a bus route, the recycling center, and the school.
Additionally, Ms. Madge came to the conclusion that the noise produced by the scaffolding company did not “significantly harm the living conditions of neighbouring occupiers”. In response to homeowners’ complaints about the noise, she did limit the pole-cutting activity to no more than two hours per week.
Masons asserted that it was already doing this until the inspector mandated that a banksman be present to oversee vehicle movements during busy school hours. Additionally, Ms. Madge set a limit on the longest HGVs that may enter the Masons facility.
Grant Mason, the founder and managing director of Masons Scaffolding, praised the appeal’s victory, saying it was “right and just” and that many of the issues had been “overhyped.”
Mr Mason said:
“I think people could see that we acted diligently by putting the banks up there every day for the school to sort of appease any concerns. We haven’t had any incidents, any near misses, anything like that to do with us since the day we were down there.
I think common sense prevailed in all honesty. I’m very clear in that I run a very professional, diligent business, and we go about our business properly. We’ve got everything in place and how it should be, and I think after the wealth of information that was provided [to the inquiry] and all the data and the tests and everything, I think it was recognised and hence the appeal was accepted.”
What conditions did the inspector attach to the permitted scaffolding yard?
There are restrictions on activities at the yard, particularly loud activities and movement of vehicles, to limit nuisance to residents and will typically be limited to certain hours, usually not early mornings, evenings or weekends.
The yard has to be securely fenced and only accessible through controlled entry points, to avoid unauthorized entry (particularly to protect children and pedestrians).
There are conditions to ensure heavy vehicles are able to access (and exit) the site safely and in an orderly manner so that the vehicles do not cause obstruction to residents and passers by. Conditions limit the level of noise emitted during operation to avoid the impact on homes located nearby.
Bromley Council also reserves the Right to monitor the site and ensure compliance with these conditions, and any breach of a condition shall result in repercussions.
