General

Councillor Upton declared that as a member and trustee of the Oxford Preservation Trust she had taken no part in that organisation’s discussions regarding the applications before the Committee.  Councillor Upton said that she was approaching the applications with an open mind, would listen to all the arguments and weigh up all the relevant facts before coming to a decision on them.

The Committee considered an application (23/00707/RES) for reserved matters approval of scale, layout, landscaping and appearance for the erection of commercial building, erection freestanding service pavilion for storage of associated waste and gas bottle storage and provision of landscaping (Plot A) at Oxford North Northern Gateway Land Adjacent A44 A40 A34 and Wolvercote Roundabout, A40 Section from Cherwell District Council Boundary to Wolvercote Roundabout.

The Planning Officer gave a presentation and highlighted the following:

·      An updated version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) had been published on 5 September, which was after the officer’s report had been finalised.  The Planning Officer confirmed that there had been no change to the paragraph numbers of the NPPF cited in the report, nor any alteration to the assessment contained in the report or the officer’s recommendation arising from the update to the NPPF.

·      Further comments had been received from Oxfordshire County Council on 18 September in relation to drainage.  The County Council was still requesting clarification on how the detached pavilion buildings would follow SUDS guidelines; matters relating to the capacity of the existing drainage ditch to accommodate drainage flow and consent from the relevant body; and details relating to how the brown roofs of each of the buildings would drain.  Officers were therefore seeking delegated authority to resolve the County Council’s remaining concerns.

·      No further public comments had been received following the consultation expiry date on 18 September.

·      Correction was required to paragraph 10.58 of the report which referred to the maximum parking standards being one space per 62sqm of employment floor space.  This should read one space per 62.5sqm of employment floor space.  The same correction was required to condition 7 (relating to the car parking strategy) which also referred to square meterage of employment floorspace.

·      The application related to one of three employment buildings which were proposed under the next phase of development (phase 2) for Oxford North.  Phase 2 would also include proposals for a new park and public square and a multi-storey car park: reserved matters applications for these proposals would be brought before the Committee at a later date.

·      The siting of the building aligned with the masterplan which had been approved under the hybrid application 18/02065/OUTFUL and which showed a building of a similar scale within the location.  The building would be used for life sciences and research and development use, consisting of a split of laboratory and office space.  The hybrid masterplan had been accompanied by a land uses parameter plan, which specifically allowed for this type of use on this part of the Oxford North Site.

·      The proposal would provide 11,065sqm of floor space in total.  Two detached buildings were proposed adjacent to the main building which would provide waste storage, storage for gas bottles and a cycle store.

·      The proposed use was consistent with the overall vision for Oxford North, which was focused on innovation and science and technology uses.

·      The site layout included soft landscaping, which would include a contribution to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

The Committee considered an application (23/00708/RES) for reserved matters approval of scale, layout, landscaping, and appearance for the erection of commercial building, erection freestanding service pavilion for storage of associated waste and gas bottle storage and provision of landscaping (Plot B) at Oxford North Northern Gateway Land Adjacent A44 A40 A34 and Wolvercote Roundabout, A40 Section from Cherwell District Council Boundary to Wolvercote Roundabout.

The Planning Officer gave a presentation and highlighted the following:

·      An updated version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) had been published on 5 September, which was after the officer’s report had been finalised.  The Planning Officer confirmed that there had been no alteration to the assessment contained in the report or the officer’s recommendation arising from the update to the NPPF.

·      Further comments had been received from Oxfordshire County Council on 18 September in relation to drainage.  The County Council was still requesting clarification on how the detached pavilion buildings would follow SUDS guidelines; matters relating to the capacity of the existing drainage ditch to accommodate drainage flow and consent from the relevant body; and details relating to how the brown roofs of each of the buildings would drain.  Officers were therefore seeking delegated authority to resolve the County Council’s remaining concerns.

·      No further public comments had been received following the consultation expiry date on 18 September.

·      Correction was required to paragraph 10.53 of the report which referred to the maximum parking standards being one space per 62sqm of employment floor space.  This should read one space per 62.5sqm of employment floor space. 

·      The proposal would provide 16,561sqm of flexible laboratory and office space, cycle storage, refuse stores and specialist waste and gas bottle stores, as well as new soft landscaping (including tree planting) to the west of the building and level access for cyclist and pedestrians.

·      The principle of providing life sciences space fully aligned with the Land Use Parameter Plan for the Oxford North site and the overall vision for delivery of the site in terms of overall uses which would enhance the knowledge economy.

·      188 cycle parking spaces would be provided.  A number of these would be in a detached pavilion to the west of the main building, with further spaces (single tier Sheffield stands) surrounding the building.  Waste storage and gas bottle storage would also be provided within a detached pavilion building to the west.  As with Building A, cycle parking was based on the Oxford Local Plan standard but was below the requirement set out under Policy NG4 of the Northern Gateway Area Action Plan.  As set out in the report, officers considered that the departure from Policy NG4 was justified considering future demand for cycle parking consistent with the applicant’s travel plan.

·      No car parking provision was directly proposed: a car parking strategy condition would be required in order to deal with future car parking provision.

·      The proposal included areas of green roofs which would sit above flat roofs.  This would contribute to the biodiversity net gain strategy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

The Committee considered an application (23/01412/RES) for reserved matters approval of scale, layout, landscaping and appearance for the erection of commercial building, erection freestanding service pavilion for storage of associated waste and gas bottle storage and provision of landscaping (Plot C) at Oxford North Northern Gateway Land Adjacent A44 A40 A34 and Wolvercote Roundabout, A40 Section from Cherwell District Council Boundary to Wolvercote Roundabout.

The Planning Officer gave a presentation and highlighted the following:

·      An updated version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) had been published on 5 September, which was after the officer’s report had been finalised.  The Planning Officer confirmed that there had been no alteration to the assessment contained in the report or the officer’s recommendation arising from the update to the NPPF.

·      Further comments had been received from Oxfordshire County Council on 18 September in relation to drainage.  The County Council was still requesting clarification on how the detached pavilion buildings would follow SUDS guidelines; matters relating to the capacity of the existing drainage ditch to accommodate drainage flow and consent from the relevant body; and details relating to how the brown roofs of each of the buildings would drain.  Officers were therefore seeking delegated authority to resolve the County Council’s remaining concerns.

·      No further public comments had been received following the consultation expiry date on 18 September.

·      Correction was required to paragraph 10.54 of the report which referred to the maximum parking standards being one space per 62sqm of employment floor space.  This should read one space per 62.5sqm of employment floor space. 

·      The proposal related to the delivery of a research and development building housing 15,290sqm of laboratory and office space.  It included the provision of hard and soft landscaping surrounding the building as well as a new pedestrian link to the north.  A detached store building was proposed for waste and gas bottle storage, located between the site of the building and the proposed multi-storey car park.

·      As with buildings A and B, no car parking was directly proposed within the application.  A car parking strategy would be required to deal with future car parking provision for the plot.  A strategy to re-provide the temporary car and cycle parking serving the Red Hall and the Phase 1a buildings, which would be lost through the development, would be conditioned.

·      168 cycle parking spaces would be provided at ground level, mainly within the envelope of the building itself but also within further detached spaces provided within Sheffield stands surrounding the building.  The cycle parking provision was based on the Oxford Local Plan standards, but as with Plots A and B was below the Policy NG4 Northern Area Gateway standards.  This departure was considered to be justified for the reasons set out in the report, based on existing and future demand for cycle parking consistent with the applicant’s travel plan.

·      The building would be five storeys in height, clad in a dark green metal material.  The plant area at the top of the building would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

Recommendation: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 15 August 2023 as a true and accurate record.

The Committee resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 15 August 2023 as a true and accurate record.

Items currently expected to be considered by the committee at future meetings are listed for information. This is not a definitive list and applications may be added or removed at any point. These are not for discussion at this meeting.

The Committee noted the list of forthcoming applications.

Future meetings of the Committee are scheduled at 6.00pm on:

3 October 2023

17 October 2023

21 November 2023

12 December 2023

23 January 2023

20 February 2024

19 March 2024

The Committee noted the dates of future meetings.