The Committee appointed Cllr Fry as Chair for the Council year 2017-18

The Committee appointed Cllr Munkonge as Vice Chair for the Council year 2017-18

The Chair ran through the procedure for planning committees.

Item 5: Cllr Fry declared he had been a Council appointed trustee for Oxford Preservation Trust but that he took no part in the decision making and is approaching the application with an open mind.

Site address:           Oxford City Council Depot South Park, Cheney Lane Oxford

Proposal:                 Erection of Visitor Centre comprising cafe/restaurant, tasting room and bar for distillery and public conveniences (Use Class A3).

Officer recommendation: 

The Planning Review Committee is recommended to grant planning permission subject to the following conditions:

1.    Development begun within time limit

2.    Develop in accordance with approved plans    

3.    Samples in Conservation Area - Headington Hill

4.    Contaminated Land 1

5.    Contaminated Land 2

6.    Travel Plan

7.    Construction Traffic Management Plan

8.    Cycle Parking

9.    Drainage Compliance 1

10. Drainage Compliance 2

11. Landscape plan required

12. Landscape carry out by completion

13. Landscape hard surface design – tree roots

14. Landscape underground services – tree roots

15. Tree Protection Plan (TPP) 2

16. Arboricultural Method Statement (AMS) 2

17. Biodiversity enhancements

18. Roof detailing

19. Railing and gate detail

20. Furniture details

21. Lighting details

22. Noise – mechanical plant

23. Machinery – restricted hours

24. Hours of use

The Committee considered a report detailing an application for planning permission to erect a visitor centre comprising cafe/restaurant, tasting room and bar for distillery and public conveniences (Use Class A3) at Oxford City Council Depot, South Park, Cheney Lane, Oxford.

The Planning Officer presented the report, setting out the background to the application and the professional advice from officers.  The existing use of the depot site is a distillery which has been granted planning permission. The proposed development of the visitor centre and other amenities will support the distillery bringing the listed threshing barn back into use.  She explained that the red outline on the site map extended into South Park to include the area where additional landscaping, seating area and hoggin path would be. This area would be open to all users of the park and would remain part of South Park.  It had been included as part of the application because the applicant was paying for the additional work to be done.

The Planning Officer circulated a list of new comments received, and officer updates to the Committee since the application had been called into the Planning Review Committee (attached as minute 32).

She made the following comments on the representations received:

·         The listed threshing barn is not currently in use because of its close proximity to the resident dwelling. Pre-application discussions are ongoing with Environmental Health.

·         Policy HE8:  Important parks and gardens is not a relevant policy as South Park is not a historic park or garden.

·         Light pollution on a dark sky site. Any impact will be mitigated by not allowing lighting between midnight and 5am.

·         The development will actually increase the amount and variety of greenery on the site. The Ecology officer believes the development will have no adverse impact on the wildlife corridor.

·         Loss of trees outside the depot boundary is an agreement with the Council’s Parks department and is not controlled by planning.

·         The Council’s archaeologist believes there is no need for an archaeology assessment on the site.

·         The triangular development (to the SE corner of the site) has since been removed from the application site.

·         There is no enclosure included in the application beyond the existing depot site boundary.

·         Officers have changed their recommendation to read “to grant planning permission subject to the approval of the conditions and no objections being received from Historic England”

The following people spoke against the application: Laura Hollitzer and Peter Edmunds (local residents) and Cllr Tom Hayes (ward councillor for St Clements).

Tom Nicholson and Tagore Ramoutar (applicants), Juliet Burch and Paul Semple (agents) and Debbie Dance (Oxford Preservation Trust) spoke in support of the application.

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

The Committee discussion noted, but was not limited to, the following points.

·         The site is an allocated development site and restrictions on lighting hours will reduce the impact of light pollution in the Park.

·         The Ecologist has reviewed the application and is satisfied the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

To approve as a true and accurate record the minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2017.

The Committee resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2017 as a true and accurate record.

The Committee noted the next meeting was scheduled for 3 August 2017 (if required).