Plans for New Hampstead Eatery Stopped for Autistic Boy
By Jesse_Custer | Monday, November 14, 2011, 13:02
It was interesting to see that last week that plans to convert a Hampstead furniture shop in Fairfax road, into an Italian diner were halted due to the close proximity for a family with an autistic child.
The mother of the child, Ingrid Bethell, was concerned that the noise from the restaurant would disturb her son. She was quoted by the Ham&High as saying 'His behaviour deteriorates suddenly when his sleep is disturbed which then damages his ability to cope with his condition.'
Her concerns were that customers and staff would disturb her son Sam, whilst exterior fans and a late opening time would make that situation even worse. The appeal went to councillors, and despite the owner of the shop promising to enforce measures to reduce noise, they voted in Mrs Bethell's favour.
Needless to say, Mrs Bethell and her family are pleased with the ruling, but did the councillors vote correctly? Or should the eatery have been given the go-ahead? Let us know below…
Comments
I'm personally not sure about this. Surely preventing a business from opening in an area that would benefit from it, just because of one family, seems a little unbalanced. It's understandable that this young man has special requirements, but surely there should have been a bit of an investigation into the local area to see how much the family would have been affected, and if they were going to be, then surely the council, rather than denying a new business opening (which is surely going to benefit the local area), offer to provide double-glazing or sound-proofing?
By zackstrife at 13:07 on 14/11/11
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