Issue - meetings

Issue - meetings

22/03067/FUL: Trinity House, John Smith Drive, Oxford OX4 2RZ

 

 

Meeting: 20/06/2023 - Planning - Oxford City Planning Committee (Item 11)

11 22/03067/FUL: Trinity House, John Smith Drive, Oxford pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Site Address:

Trinity House , John Smith Drive, Oxford

Proposal:

Demolition of existing office building and erection of 1no. laboratory and office building for research and development (use class E). Erection of gas store. Provision of motor vehicle and cycle parking and landscaping

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 13 of the report and grant planning permission subject to:

·     the satisfactory completion of a legal agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers to secure the planning obligations set out in the recommended heads of terms which are set out in the report; 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; and

·     respond to comments made by the Environment Agency with regards to groundwater contamination, resolve any concerns or objections and finalise any recommended conditions;

·     finalise the recommended legal agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers as set out in the report, including refining, adding to, amending and/or deleting the obligations detailed in the heads of terms set out in the report (including to dovetail with and where appropriate, reinforce the final conditions and informatives to be attached to the planning permission) as the Head of Planning Services considers reasonably necessary; and

·     complete the section 106 legal agreement referred to above and issue the planning permission.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered an application (22/03067/FUL) for the demolition of existing office building and erection of 1no. laboratory and office building for research and development (Use Class E); erection of gas store; provision of motor vehicle and cycle parking and landscaping at Trinity House, John Smith Drive, Oxford.

The Planning Officer provided the following updates and clarifications:

·       Since publication of the committee report it had emerged that the CIL figure had been incorrectly calculated based on the incorrect Use Class E charge, rather than the development being liable for a CIL payment of £3,483,802.  The revised CIL figure was £740,401.

 

·       The 715 construction jobs stated in the committee report had been based on the economic statement which was submitted in December 2022.  An updated statement had been provided which estimated that the scheme would actually deliver 475 jobs over the construction period.

 

·       These updates had not impacted on officers’ recommendation to approve the application.  This was because the economic benefits of the scheme, which comprised just one element of the public benefits, were still considered to outweigh the harm to heritage assets.

 

The Planning Officer gave a presentation and highlighted the following:

·         The site comprised a rectangular parcel of lane at the junction of Garsington Road and John Smith Drive, located within the Oxford Business Park (now known as ‘ARC Oxford’).  The built development currently on site comprised a three storey office building with surface parking extending over the majority of the site, interspersed with soft landscaping.  Surrounding built form comprised two- and three- storey buildings in a range of employment uses, and two-storey residential dwellings which lay over 100 metres to the west of the site.

 

·         The scheme proposed the demolition of the existing Trinity House building, and erection of a six storey building with a gross internal area of 20,409m2 and a gross external area of 25,448m2 in research and development use with CL2 and CL3 laboratories and offices.

 

·         The proposed building would make more efficient use of the site, whilst responding to the surrounding smaller scale buildings, with its stepped elevations reducing the proposed massing.  The ground floor was also set in from John Smith Drive by 13.5m, creating an area of public realm.  The proposed new footpath at the corner of Garsington Road would enhance connectivity and legibility, which is currently lacking within the Park.  The perimeter landscaping would be retained and enhanced.

 

·         The building is one of the first Life Sciences buildings to come forward on the Business Park and represented a new typology, in line with the Local Plan ambitions for the Park to achieve a step change in the type, scale and quality of development coming forward.  It was considered that its distinctive design clearly responded to the site’s corner plot position, and would act as a gateway to the Park. 

 

·         130 staff car parking spaces were proposed on the basement plan, with 3 additional external visitors’ spaces.  This represented a reduction in the existing provision.  However, the transport assessment had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11