A shisha lounge has been given permission to open on a Dagenham trading estate, at the site of an unauthorised nightclub. Barking and Dagenham Council granted planning permission for a restaurant and shisha lounge at the Midas Business Centre in Wantz Road, Goresbrook. Council planning officers said shisha lounges are “not commonly seen in an industrial area”. However they said it was not “at odds” with the property’s approved use. The property, at unit 6B, was previously a café, Chippy’s Diner, but this closed some time between 2019 and 2021. Since then, it opened as a bar and nightclub without planning permission, according to an officer’s report. After a visit from enforcement officer’s, the owner applied for retrospective planning permission for the change of use in 2022. However the council refused this, in a decision backed up by the planning inspectorate following an appeal. The planning officer’s report says that after this, the nightclub “ceased operation” and the owner confirmed “that the use on site was changed back to a restaurant”. A new application to change the use to a restaurant “with associated shisha lounge” was submitted to the council in March this year. The planning officers’ report said that the shisha lounge would be in an enclosure the restaurant’s front yard, which was previously used as a smoking area. The report says the address is within a “locally significant industrial site” – where the council encourages business and employment uses. However it also noted that as the address was already approved as a restaurant, the addition of a shisha lounge meant its use had not “materially changed”. The officer’s report said: “Although the proposed use is not considered commonly seen within an industrial area, it should be noted that the application site has been operated as a restaurant. “A shisha lounge operating within a restaurant is not considered abnormal, which can be seen in town/district/neighbourhood centres in Barking and Dagenham. “As such, officers do not consider the shisha lounge use at odds especially given the current use of the site.” Planning officers agreed to grant permission on Tuesday, 2nd June. However they recommended that the owner check that the use of the front area as a shisha lounge was compliant with smoking laws, which are not a planning matter. Their report said: “Although the front area might not be suitable for smoking under some circumstances, officers consider this concern to be beyond planning considerations as the relevant Smoking Act and Regulations are not development plan policies. “The development is therefore considered acceptable and it is recommended planning permission to be granted, with an informative for the applicant to check compliance in terms of using the front area for shisha smoking.”