Hairdresser granted permission to create home salon

The county council has approved plans for a hair salon to be created in a residential property in Ashington.

Plans were lodged with Northumberland County Council last year to convert a utility room of a property in Houndslow Drive for business use.

But the scheme faced a barrage of opposition over concerns about the impact on traffic in and out of the Fallowfield estate and on other traders in the town.

“The salon is purely an opportunity to work at home part-time, to look after two young children and make a small wage,” said William Scott, speaking on behalf of the applicant and his daughter, Laura-Jane Slattery, who will be working from the salon.

“I’ve been shocked by the level of abuse and how [they] have been treated and made to feel like they’ve done something really bad in their own home.

“Seeing your family in tears because someone hiding from behind a curtain or a keyboard is watching everything you do and make you justify everyone who comes in and out of your house is not a nice feeling.

“To say this is going to be the next branch of Vidal Sassoon is a bit ridiculous.”

Mr Scott also pointed to social media adverts for businesses run from other homes on the estate, including, he claimed, a snooker cue-maker operating from the address of an objector to the proposals.

As well as permission to convert the utility room of the family home to a hair salon with space for one client at a time, retrospective permission was also sought for a fence around part of the property.

The county council’s Ashington and Blyth Local Area Council heard 20 objections had been submitted over the scheme, with just three in support.

Addressing the panel to sum up opposition to the application, Debra Thompson said: “Parking is already tight in the area.

“[This could set] precedent for commercial and business use in the area, where initially we were encouraged to work from home, that is not the case now.

“We’ve got a dying high street and a number of places where hair dressers could work from.”

However, while several county councillors on the committee opposed the application, it was approved by a margin of 8-5 after a majority concluded there were no ground to refuse permission.