Site address:               St Hilda's College, Cowley Place, Oxford, OX4 1DY        

Proposal:                    Proposed demolition of existing buildings and redevelopment comprising: erection of new building to provide student accommodation (59 bedrooms), porters lodge, middle common room, fellows' accommodation and academic and administrative offices; erection of new pavilion building; removal of existing porch to old hall building and provision of replacement; creation of new pedestrian access from Cowley Place; replacement bin and bicycle parking.

Recommendation:

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 11 of this report and grant planning permission subject to:

(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 (17/02537/FUL) for planning permission for the demolition of existing buildings within the college campus, and the erection of a new building to provide student accommodation (59 bedrooms), porters lodge, middle common room, fellows' accommodation and academic and administrative offices; erection of new pavilion building; removal of existing porch to old hall building and provision of replacement; creation of new pedestrian access from Cowley Place; replacement bin and bicycle parking.

The Planning Officer presented the report and made the following points of clarification:

·       Paragraph 9.6 – should make it clear that Section 72 relates to the need to pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of conservation areas.

·       Condition 7 should refer to a scheme of recording of the buildings prior to demolition and would be reworded to reflect that.

The Planning Officer reported that the Environment Agency have withdrawn their objection to the proposal on grounds that no ecological buffer was to be provided to the River Cherwell.

Debbie Dance (Oxford Preservation Trust) spoke against the application. 

Sir Gordon Duff (Principal, St Hilda’s College), Simon Sharp (Agent), Chris Neve and Marcus Beale (Architects) spoke in favour of the application.

The Committee asked questions of the officers and public speakers about the details of the application.

The Committee noted the following points:

·       that the scheme had been developed through an extensive pre-application process with planning officers, the design review panel, and Historic England

·       that although the application proposed a departure from development plan policy, in that it includes a tower that would exceed the maximum height limit defined within the Local Plan, planning officers, for the reasons detailed in the report, did not consider that this was sufficient to warrant withholding planning permission

·       that the proposed pavilion building and associated groundworks would add to the river landscape

·       that the scale and mass of the proposed development, including the tower, would not detract from the existing views of the “dreaming spires” and city skyline

·       that although the proposed development would have some impact on the conservation area, officers judged this to be less than substantial harm and outweighed by the benefits achieved from the comprehensive re-development of a constrained campus

The Committee, mindful of the sensitivity associated with the proposals for a tower within the site, focussed much of its discussion on this aspect of the application with particular regard to lighting and decorative design. The Committee noted that adjacent buildings and the existing local street scene generated some lighting in the environs of the application site and that the proposed lighting for the tower itself would be significantly less than the floodlighting of Magdalen Tower.

It was agreed that approval of the details required by conditions 8, 9 and 10 as they relate to the tower, should be brought back to the Committee and not delegated to the Head of Planning, Sustainable Development and Regulatory Services to approve.

In reaching its decision, the Committee considered all the information put before it. The Committee concluded that this was a persuasive application which would provide significant benefit to St Hilda’s College; and much needed improvements to the public realm at Cowley Place.

The Committee thanked planning officers for a comprehensive report. 

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 required planning conditions set out in section 11 of the report but that the details required by conditions 8, 9 and 10 as they relate to the tower, should be brought back to the Committee to approve;

b)    Grant planning permission; and

c)    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.