Councillor Mary Clarkson was elected Chair for the Council year 2024-25.

Councillor Laurence Fouweather was elected Vice-Chair for the Council year 2024-25.

General

Councillor Upton declared that she was a member of the Oxford Civic Society, which had commented on one of the applications on the agenda.  Councillor Upton stated that she had taken no part in any discussions by the Civic Society regarding any of the applications before the committee and was approaching them with an open mind.

The Committee considered an outline application (with all matters reserved except access) for up to 121 dwellings and a care home, including open space and green infrastructure at Land at Bayswater Farm, Bayswater Farm Road, Oxford.

The Planning Officer gave a presentation and highlighted the following:

·        The application site was a 7.16 hectare area of land located to the north of Sandhills, consisting primarily of undeveloped fields with a rural character.  A public right of way ran through the site from east to west.  The application site crossed the boundaries of both the Oxford City and South Oxfordshire district administrative areas, with the vast majority of the site lying within the South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) area.

·        Approval was sought for all matters reserved except for the proposed means of access into the site from Delbush Avenue and Burdell Avenue.  The Planning Officer highlighted that it was only in the Council’s remit to determine the acceptability of those parts of the development which fell within the city council’s administrative area; this included cumulative impacts such as the impact of traffic generation.

·        A separate application had been submitted to SODC, which had been refused on 10 grounds.  A copy of the delegated decision report from SODC, including the reasons for refusal, was included in the agenda pack.

·        The development site was included in the SODC Local Plan under site allocation STRAT13.  The parcel of land which formed the subject of this application was part of the larger Bayswater Brook allocation.  This was the subject of joint planning applications submitted to OCC and SODC for 1450 homes, 20 assisted living units and commercial and community uses.  The site policy did not specify the number of homes which should be provided within the parcel of land which comprised the development site.

·        SODC had confirmed within its delegated decision report that the application complied with the adopted South Oxfordshire Local Plan in terms of the principle of development and the acceptability of the site for housing.  However, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils were in the process of developing a joint Local Plan (JLP) which was currently under consultation.  This recommended that the site be de-allocated, primarily on the basis of the suitability of obtaining access into the site.  However, the Planning Officer advised that the South and Vale JLP was not at a sufficiently advanced stage to afford it weight when assessing the merits of this planning application at the current time.

·        The proposal would require the removal of a single large, mature Norway Maple tree in order to facilitate access into the wider site beyond the City Council’s boundary.  Owing to the loss of the tree and the lack of suitable mitigation it was considered that the development would be contrary to policy G7 of the Oxford Local Plan.

·        The County Council had advised, in respect of both accesses and the impact on surrounding roads leading to the site, that there was no provision for on-street cycling infrastructure.  As  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Committee considered an application for demolition of existing office buildings and erection of 1no. laboratory-enabled office building for research and development with ancillary commercial use (all within Use Class E); provision of new access, alterations to existing footpath, motor vehicle and cycle parking, landscaping and services infrastructure at 4200 Nash Court, John Smith Drive, Oxford.

The Planning Officer gave a presentation and highlighted the following:

·        The figure for the total liability for Community Infrastructure Levy, shown in the report as £852,980.70, had been mis-calculated by the CIL team.  The correct figure for the CIL liability was £170,555.70.

·        The Environment Agency had now submitted its response to the proposal and confirmed that it did not object, subject to the inclusion of conditions relating to a remediation strategy, piling, boreholes, infiltration and the storage of oils, fuels and chemicals.

·        The application sought approval for the redevelopment of plot 4200 at ARC Oxford, a category 1 employment site which was allocated for employment use.  Demolition of all of the existing two storey office buildings was proposed, with replacement with a three storey lab-enabled office building with a gross internal area of 9,829 sqm.  This would accommodate containment level 2 labs with internal ancillary amenity uses and a roof terrace at the third floor.  Five single-storey ancillary buildings to store cycles, lab gasses and bins were also included, with generators and a sub-station located to the north, south and west of the main laboratory building.

·        The proposed building was, by way of its form and design, considered to make an efficient use of the development plot which would sit comfortably within the local context.  The existing footpath to the south of Plot 4200 and included within the application site would be partially widened to create an enhanced entrance plaza with seating and visitor cycle spaces.  The gate fronting Boswell Road would be removed, allowing 24-hour public access.  A spur from the footpath, which would be gated, would lead directly to Plot 4200 providing a shortcut for staff and visitors to the building.  The main pedestrian entrance to the plot would be via the existing central vehicular access off John Smith Drive which would be stopped up with the addition of a drop off bay.

·        Vehicular access was proposed towards the northern and southern boundaries of the site.  166 vehicular surface level parking spaces, including visitor parking and accessible bays, would be provided on site.  This was a reduction of 77 spaces when compared to the existing provision, equating to an acceptable mode share of 41.5%.  29% of spaces would be equipped with EV charging, with a condition requiring ducting for 100% of the spaces in order to meet future need.

·        117 cycle parking spaces would be provided for staff and visitors, exceeding Local Plan requirements.

·        It was considered that the proposal would represent a modest addition to the conservation area’s wider setting to the south, which would result in a very low level of less than substantial harm to the central conservation area.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Recommendation: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2024 as a true and accurate record.

The Committee resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2024 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:

25 June 2024

16 July 2024

20 August 2024

17 September 2024

15 October 2024

19 November 2024

The Committee noted the dates of future meetings.