Site address:                   7 St Michael's Mansions, Ship Street, Oxford

Proposal:                        Proposal        Temporary change of use of ground floor and basement of no. 7 St Michael's Mansions from (Use Class A1) retail use to Sui Generis (Betting Shop). (Amended description)

Reason at Committee      The application is before the committee because it was called in by Councillors Clarkson, Munkonge, Tanner, Pressel and Simm because the proposal is not a like for like replacement and no marketing evidence has been provided to demonstrate that an A1 use cannot be found.            

Recommendation:

The West Area Planning Committee is recommended to:

1.     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

2.     agree to delegate authority to the Acting Head of Planning Services to:

a.     finalise the recommended conditions as set out in this report including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as the Acting Head of Planning Services considers reasonably necessary

The Committee agreed to take this item first.

The Committee considered an application (18/02400/FUL) for planning permission for the temporary change of use of ground floor and basement of no. 7 St Michael's Mansions from (Use Class A1) retail use to Sui Generis (Betting Shop).

The application was before the Committee as it was called in by Councillors Clarkson, Munkonge, Tanner, Pressel and Simm because the proposal was not a like for like replacement and no marketing evidence has been provided to demonstrate that an A1 use cannot be found.            

The Planning Officer presented the report and informed the Committee that the wording of condition 6 is proposed to be changed so that the condition reads “The use of the first floor unit of 18-20 Cornmarket Street as a betting shop shall cease within 1 month from the date of this permission”.

Helen Wilkinson, Oxford Preservation Trust spoke against the application. 

Simon Sharp, JPPC spoke in favour of the application.

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

The Committee were of the view that the duration of the temporary permission should be linked to the timescales for the Cornmarket redevelopment and not to the commercial arrangements of the applicant and the tenant. Three years was thought to be a more reasonable timescale.

The Committee noted that the permitted development rights would be taken away so that all advertisements would require advertisement consent (Condition 3). However, they were concerned about the variety of forms of modern advertising that might be used on and inside the premises.  To minimise the impact on the wider street scene it was important to ensure that the control provided by Condition 3 was robust, specific and encompassed the different forms of advertising that might be used.

In reaching its decision, the Committee considered all the information put before it.  The Committee felt that this was a finely balanced decision given the sensitive location and the branding of the betting shop but they were reassured that there would be no external alterations to the shopfront as part of this application and that the development could be controlled and contained by the proposed conditions.

On being put to the vote the Committee agreed with the officer recommendation with the following amendments:

·       Condition 1 – officers to seek to agree a shorter duration for the temporary permission

·       Condition 3 – officers to revise the wording to provide greater and more specific control on the tenant’s use of various forms of advertising on and within the site

The West Area Planning Committee resolved to:

1.     approve the application for the reasons given in the report and subject to the required planning conditions set out in section 12 of the report and including the proposed amendments detailed above (Conditions 1, 3 and 6) and grant planning permission; and

2.     delegate authority to the Acting Head of Planning Services to:

a.     finalise the recommended conditions as set out in the report and amended above including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as the Acting Head of Planning Services considers reasonably necessary.