22/01538/FUL

Councillor Rehman declared a pecuniary interest in the application and stated that he would withdraw and leave the meeting room whilst the application was considered.

The Committee considered an application (22/01712/FUL) for temporary change of use from general industrial use (Use Class B2) to storage and distribution (Use Class B8) for a period of 5 years at UYS Limited, Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2BW.

The Planning Officer gave a presentation and highlighted the following:

·         Section 1.1.2 of the report required amendment to clarify that authority to finalise conditions and issue the decision was to be delegated to the Acting Head of Planning Services (Development Management);

·         The building was currently vacant, and had been since UYS had left the site last year.  It had been marketed since September 2020, and no occupier had yet been found.  However, the marketing summary suggested that the majority of interest was from potential Class B8 occupiers;

·         Access to the site was only via the adjacent Unipart site, via a controlled security access point;

·         The building was a large industrial structure, housing 12,173 sqm of Class B2 floor space;

·         The building remains of a high standard and was capable of use for Class B2, or other Class B uses.  Parking for 135 cars was provided on the site, and this would be unaltered by the planning application;

·         The application site was located in the overall site allocation policy for Unipart, which was covered under policy SP7 of the Oxford Local Plan.  The site allocation was permissive in principle of Class B8 uses on the Unipart site;

·         Policy E1 of the Oxford Local Plan included a caveat that B8 uses would in general only be supported on employment sites where those uses supported existing employment operations on the site or Category 1 employment sites.  It was not intended that the temporary B8 use within this proposal would be in connection with Unipart or another Category 1 employment use, and on that basis the proposal did depart from Policy E1 of the Local Plan.  However, the site allocation for Unipart did not specifically require Class B8 uses on the site to be connected with Unipart or any other Category 1 employment use;

·         The change of use would enable use by a greater range of occupiers, increasing the likelihood that the building would be brought back into operation in the near future;

·         It was estimated that Class B8 use on the site would deliver 166 jobs.  This was slightly lower than the 313 employees who had worked for UYS on the site; however, the building was currently providing no employment at all whilst it remained vacant;

·         The application was for an intervening use, as the applicant had proposals to potentially develop the rear section of the Unipart site in the future, including the UYS building.  The building would revert to its existing B2 use after the recommended 5 years temporary planning permission, and therefore the site would not be permanently lost as high generating Class B2 space;

·         There would be no significant environmental issues resulting from the change of use in terms of noise or air quality.  Whilst there was likely to be a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

The Committee considered an application (22/01538/FUL) for demolition of an existing garage, erection of a single storey side extension, and provision of bin and bike stores at 72 The Slade, Oxford OX3 7DX.  The application was before the Committee as the applicant was an elected Councillor of Oxford City Council.

Councillor Rehman left the meeting room for this item and did not take part in determining the application.

The Planning Officer gave a presentation and highlighted the following:

·        Section 1.1.2 of the report required amendment to clarify that authority to finalise conditions and issue the decision was to be delegated to the Acting Head of Planning Services (Development Management);

·        72 The Slade was a two-storey semi-detached property located on the east side of The Slade, near to the junction with Wood Farm Road.  Access was via a private road which ran along the front of the application site.  The property was currently in use as a Sui Generis House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) and had previously been extended by means of a single storey rear extension and a rear dormer window;

·        The extension would replicate the existing design formation.  Officers were of the view that the design would be of a similar appearance to the remainder of the site, especially when viewed from the front, and therefore did not consider that it would have any adverse impact with regard to visual amenity or the street scene;

·        The extension would be sited between 8 and 10m from the properties on Wood Farm Road, and would sit only 0.3m taller than the existing garage.  Given the single storey nature of the extension, and the separation distance between the extension and the rear of properties on Wood Farm Road, officers were of the opinion that the proposal would not have an adverse impact on neighbouring amenity;

·        The bin and bike stores would be located at the front of the property and would be single storey and constructed from timber.  For the reasons outlined in the report officers considered that these were acceptable;

·        The main considerations for the application were the design impact on visual amenity, and the impact on neighbouring amenity.  For the reasons outlined in the presentation and report, officers were of the opinion that the proposal was acceptable in design and amenity terms and therefore approval was recommended, subject to the conditions set out in the report.

The Committee asked questions on details of the application, which were responded to by officers.  Discussion included the following:

·        The design of the bike stores, each holding four bikes, could prove difficult for bikes to be taken out and put back in.  Officers responded that the design was of a standard type, and balance was needed between ease of use and the size and visual impact of the bike stores;

·        Natural England had requested further information as part of the application on whether the extension was to be constructed on existing hardstanding, as the site was in the Lye Valley catchment area.  On the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

Recommendation: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2022 as a true and accurate record.

The Committee resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2022 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:

15 November 2022

13 December 2022

24 January 2023

21 February 2023

21 March 2023

18 April 2023

The Committee noted the dates of future meetings.