Issue - meetings

Issue - meetings

22/01215/FUL: Anna Watts Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG

Meeting: 19/07/2022 - Planning - Oxford City Planning Committee (Item 20)

20 22/01215/FUL: Anna Watts Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Site Address:

Anna Watts Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG

Proposal:

Retention of existing research modular building for the Department of Experimental Psychology (Use Class D1) for a temporary period of 4 years.

Reason at Committee:

The proposal is a major development

Recommendation:

The Oxford City 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 11 of this report and grant planning permission.

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

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

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered an application (22/01215/FUL) for the retention of an existing research modular building (The Anna Watts Building, located on Plot K of the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter), for the Department of Experimental Psychology (Use Class D1) for a temporary period of 4 years.

The Planning Officer presented the report and photographs of the building and highlighted the following:

·         The reason for retention was to enable experiments to continue whilst the Life and Mind Building (LaMB) was being constructed.  The LaMB was due to be completed in late 2024;

 

·         The permission, if granted, would be conditioned to require the building to be removed and the land reinstated with a period of 4 years from the grant of permission, or when experiments had concluded if sooner;

 

·         Officers were confident that there would be no further application to retain the temporary building, as the Life and Mind Building was currently under construction;

 

·         Officers considered that there was less than substantial harm to St Paul’s Church, as the building interrupted views of the church from the site and also views onto the conservation area from the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter.  It was considered that the public benefits derived from retaining the employment, and the benefits which Oxford University brought to the economy, outweighed the less than substantial harm which would be caused by a temporary building;

 

·         The boundary wall and existing vegetation largely screened the building from view from Walton Street.  It was therefore not considered that the building significantly impacted on the streetscape from Walton Street.

 

After being proposed, seconded and put to the vote, the Committee agreed with the officer’s recommendation to approve the application subject to the required planning conditions.

 

The Oxford City 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 11 of the report and grant planning permission; and

 

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

 

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