Agenda item

Report of Head of Planning

(copy herewith)

Ward: Sunneyside

The Head of Planning submitted an application in respect of N/2011/1074, elaborated thereon and referred to the Addendum that set out the Transport Assessment conducted by the Applicant and also referred to a letter from Mr Baker, the Chair of St David’s Residents Association, commenting upon the impact on congestion in the area and the belief that the proposal was for the wrong type of development in the area.  .

Mrs Masters, a local resident, commented that she was very concerned about the proposal in terms of its detrimental scale and its impact on congestion in the area. Despite what the Applicant claimed students would still bring their cars to the area and put further pressure on on-street parking. The proposal was out of keeping with the surrounding Victorian houses. She believed that there would be additional noise from taxis picking up and dropping off students. She understood that although the Applicant had stated that they were in partnership with Moulton College, the College had in fact denied this. Mrs Masters referred to the University’s plans to build student accommodation in the Town Centre. She noted that the proposal was for bedsits with shared kitchens and that these would not be suitable for other uses. Mrs Masters referred to a previous application several years previously which had been refused partly on grounds of scale and that had been smaller than the current proposal. 

Mr Baker, Chair of the St David’s Residents Association, asked that the Committee object to the application. He had spoken to other residents and shop owners and had not yet found anyone who was in favour of the proposal. He believed that the Applicant’s suggestion to restrict students from bringing their cars with them would be unenforceable.

The Head of Planning noted that the previous application referred to by Mrs Masters had been for 155 flats with 177 car parking spaces and would have been 17.5metres tall at the Bective Road end and 12 metres at the Yelvertoft Road end as compared with 22 metres in respect of the current proposal. 

The Committee discussed the application.

RESOLVED:     That WNDC be informed that the Council raise the strongest possible objections to this wholly inappropriate proposal, by reason of its siting, design and scale it would have an adverse impact upon residential and visual amenity and therefore fails to comply with the requirements of PPS1 and PPS3 and Local Plan Policies E20 and H6.

                              WNDC are recommended to conduct a site visit before considering the application.

                             However, should WNDC be minded to approve the application, it is requested that the following matters be taken into account prior to a decision being reached:

·        An updated contamination assessment be secured, taking into account recent changes to best guidance and potential changes to the use of the land subsequent to the carrying out of the assessment. This is necessary to ensure that the proposal accords with the requirements of PPS23 – Planning and Pollution Control

·        Any agreement requiring that the future occupiers of the development do not possess private cars is enforceable in order to ensure a satisfactory impact upon the amenities of the occupiers of surrounding properties and highway safety in line with the requirements of PPG13 – Transport.