Shirley: Plans approved for takeaway at motorcycle showroom

The Lord Mayor of Southampton was amongst those who objected to a proposal to turn the old Yamaha Parkroad Motorcycles store on Shirley Road into an eatery.

But planning officers at Southampton City Council have given the green light to transform the graffitied eye sore, bringing a new takeaway to the busy stretch of road near Foyes Corner.

Planning permission to turn the top floor of the building into two flats was previously approved with the promise of keeping the ground floor for a shop, café or restaurant.

READ MORE: Shirley: Plans to turn motorcycle showroom into takeaway

Seven objections were publicly posted on the plan, which was approved on May 8.

This included Councillor David Shields, the Lord Mayor of Southampton, who expressed concerns for "road safety".

"I'm minded to oppose the development of any new fast food take away facilities near to a school in line with the council's recent scrutiny enquiry recommendations and emerging policy in both the local plan and National Planning Policy Framework," he said.

Whilst approved, the takeaway must not have customers on the premises or sell any food or drink outside the hours of 11am to 10pm.

The building was a motorcycle showroom, as seen in this Google Maps screenshot from May 2018. (Image: Google Maps) This is not the first time that developers have been successful in wanting to make radical changes to the building on 156 Shirley Road.

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Plans were approved in December 2021 for the former motorcycle shop to be partly demolished in order to make way for new homes in its place.

The documents argued for two two-bedroom, one four-bedroom and a three-bedroom home.

The green light was given but the development never came to fruition, the building was not demolished and in 2022 a new application was submitted to the council to see the retail unit retained on the bottom floor.