CAR WASH CLOSED DOWN OVER CONTAMINATION FEARS

A temporary stop notice has been issued on a car wash in Margate, meaning they have to cease their business for the next 28 days.

The notice was handed out by Thanet District Council's planning enforcement team yesterday (Monday 10 May), after the operators of Chapel Hill Car Wash in Ramsgate Road failed to meet some of the conditions in their planning permission.

The site first came to officers' attention when it was visited as part of a previous Clean Sweep operation. At that time, it only had planning permission for car sales.

An application was then approved in August 2009 to change it into a car wash, but one of the conditions about removing the waste water from the site has yet to be complied with. This requires that a full site investigation has to be submitted to the council to check for any potential historic contamination at the site. Another condition requires that proper drainage should be put in place.

Principal Enforcement Officer Steve Albon said: "At present, there are various issues with the way the car wash is being operated. Firstly, there are concerns about the lack of drainage on the site, with chemicals used in the car wash being washed straight into the road. The council is also concerned about contamination on the site, which is why we want a full investigation done, so that this can be fully checked. That's why we've taken this drastic action to stop the car wash trading. It's not a decision we've taken lightly, but we have been asking for something to be done about these issues, since the planning approval was granted last summer. To date, there's been no sign of any measures to tackle these problems and now we've had to take action in a bid to get this sorted."