Binfield Toyota car wash making lives hell for neighbours

The vehicle washing and valeting structure on John Nike Way is currently operating at Jemca Toyota car dealership.

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Car bosses are asking the council for retrospective permission to approve the use of the car wash after it was set up without the go-ahead from planning chiefs.

But Toyota is facing opposition from residents living on Braeside who have had to put up with the loud noise and disturbance coming from the site for around two years.

One wrote: “I am strongly objecting to this retrospective application.

“Having had the incessant noise from this facility since it was relocated to below my garden and my son’s bedroom window (due to being on a steep slope).

“We have been unable to sit in and enjoy our garden due to the jetwashing going on until gone 8pm in the evening and also at weekends, not to mention the early starts.

“This is coupled with the shouting of the staff to be heard over the noise.

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“I am therefore strongly objecting to this application as I am directly affected by it.

“My mental health has already been affected by this facility's location.”

So far, eight neighbours have lodged objections to the planning application.

Toyota’s application came after Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) sent the dealership a planning enforcement letter.

A letter from the applicants states the dealership’s bosses assumed they would not need planning permission to erect the car wash.

Upon realising this was not the case, the dealership sent off an application to BFC and claimed there are “no locations where the outbuilding could be placed elsewhere” as the site is “tightly constrained.”

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Commenting on the 13-metre gap between the car wash and residential developments, the letter adds: “This separation distance, and the mature trees within the intervening land, ensure that the building is well hidden from nearby houses.”

The applicants claim the structure is designed to minimise noise from the car wash, and at present, “does not cause any harm to the amenity of nearby residents.”

But residents do not agree with this assessment.

One other Braeside homeowner commented: “The constant noise and beeping is causing huge anxiety and stress and has ruined my ability to have my windows open or sit in my garden.

“What was once a lovely place to live is now a living hell.”

BFC is currently considering the application.