Agenda item

(Copy herewith)

The Principal Planning Officer submitted a report on behalf of the Director or Regeneration, Enterprise and Planning and elaborated thereon. The addendum was referred to which detailed representations received from Councillor Russell and Queen’s Park Residents’ Association. He also referred to the Officer response in regards to the shadow analysis which was carried out. The Principal Planning Officer outlined the scheme and stated there would be a separate site for parking.

Councillor Birch addressed the Committee as the Ward Councillor for Trinity and spoke against the application. She was concerned that the development not adequately reflect the character of the area and that the impact in terms of loss of light, noise, size of development would impact on residential amenity.

Once Councillor Birch had addressed the Committee she left the room having declared an interest in the item earlier at the meeting.

Mr Brian Burnett addressed the Committee as the Chair of Queens Park Residents Association and spoke against the application. He confirmed that he was not opposing to housing but the design and appearance of the development was an incongruous feature.  The development did not reflect the character of the area and the retail unit would be a distraction to drivers. He also referred to examples of Grafton Street and Upton development.

Mr Richard Lyons addressed the Committee as a resident of Kingsthorpe Grove and spoke against the application. He stated that the development would overbear and overshadow nieghours.  The shadow analysis was incomplete and not in accordance with BRE Standards.  He questioned the reliability of the sequential test and why 13 parking spaces were required for a local shop. No crossing was proposed for the separate parking area.

Mr Duncan Chadwick addressed the Committee as a partner of David Locke associates planning consultancy and spoke in favour of the application. He said the officer report is fair and NPPF said Council should provide 5 year housing land supply.  The development will regenerate the site with an attractive building.  The retail unit would create jobs and activities.

Mr Simon Stringer addressed the Committee on behalf of the applicant and owner and spoke in favour of the application. He confirmed that the development would be of high standard and that pre-app was started with officers back in 2014.

In response to questions from the Committee the Principal Planning Officer advised that the application was not refused at the previous Committee but recommended for refusal. With regards to overshadowing the Principal Planning Officer stated that the previous scheme had a different design and the area has been assessed regarding overshadowing.

The Development Manager advised the Committee that design is a subjective matter and that the urban designer advised that the design is acceptable in this location. Although the building is high it is more of a landmark feature and the overshadowing issue is detailed in the report.

The Chair referred to 8.2 in the conclusion of the report which details design of the building.

The Committee discussed the report.

RESOLVED

That the application be APPROVED IN PRINCIPLE subject to the following:

1)      Prior finalisation of a S106 legal agreement to secure permanent retention of the parking area on the satellite site at Trinity Avenue to serve the proposed apartments;

(2)    Financial contribution towards construction training; and

(3)    Planning conditions in the report and for the following reason:

The proposed development would have no significant detrimental impact on the amenities of neighbouring occupiers, would be an appropriate development in the context of the site, producing a landmark feature which would not be out of keeping with the character and appearance of the area, and would represent an appropriate use for the site in respect of both the retail and residential elements of the proposal. The proposed development would therefore comply with Policies S2, S3, S9, S10, H1 and H2 of the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy, Polices H6, H17, H32, E20, E40 of the Northampton Local Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework.

1.2      It is also recommended that in the event of the Legal Agreement not being completed within three calendar months of this Committee meeting, the Director of Regeneration, Enterprise and Planning be given delegated authority to either refuse or finally dispose of the application, at his discretion.