Site address:                   4-5 Queen Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 1EJ       

Proposal:                        Change of use of 4-5 Queen Street at basement and ground floor from A1 (retail) to A2 (bank).        

Reason at Committee: 

The application is before the committee because it has been called in by the Head of Planning, Sustainable Development and Regulatory Services

Recommendation:

The West Area Planning Committee is recommended to:

(a)    Approve the application for the reasons given in the report and subject to the required planning conditions set out in section 12 of this report and grant planning permission

(b)    Agree to delegate authority to the Head of Planning, Sustainable Development and Regulatory Services to:

1. Finalise the recommended conditions as set out in this report including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as the Head of Planning, Sustainable Development and Regulatory Services considers reasonably necessary.

The Committee considered an application (17/03429/FUL) for planning permission for a change of use of the ground floor and basement from an A1 (retail) use to an A2 (bank) use.

The Planning Officer presented the report and explained that the application proposals did not include any physical development to the building. He explained that the current Oxford Local Plan 2001-2016 did not include the entirety of the Westgate development which meant that the proposed development was technically unacceptable with regard to Policy RC3 of that Local Plan as there was a shortfall in the proportion of A1 retail units in the Primary Shopping Frontage. However, as detailed in the report, this needed to be considered against the wider requirements of the NPPF and Policy CS31 of the Oxford Core Strategy (2011) and have regard to the emerging retail position in the city and recognise that the change of use could now be achieved under permitted development rights.

The Planning Officer made the following factual correction:

Line 5, Paragraph 2.1, page 121

Delete “units that fall outside of” replace with “units that fall within”.

In reaching its decision, the Committee considered all the information put before it and noted that the change of use was acceptable in this instance because of the specific issues addressed in the officers’ report relating to the nature of the applicant’s service offering.  The Committee stated that this case did not set a precedent and that the principles of acceptable change of use must be determined as part of a considered policy review and not in response to ad hoc applications. 

Calum Ewing, representing the applicant, attended to answer questions but was not called on to speak.

On being put to the vote the Committee agreed with the officer recommendation.

The West Area Planning Committee resolved to:

a)    approve the application for the reasons given in the report and subject to the 2 required planning conditions set out in section 12 of the report and grant planning permission; and

b)    delegate authority to the Head of Planning, Sustainable Development and Regulatory Services to:

1.     Finalise the recommended conditions as set out in this report including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as the Head of Planning, Sustainable Development and Regulatory Services considers reasonably necessary.