Agenda item - 36, 38 and 40 London Road and 2 Latimer Road:15/00858/FUL

36, 38 and 40 London Road and 2 Latimer Road:15/00858/FUL

Meeting of Planning Review Committee, Wednesday 27 January 2016 6.00 pm (Item 5.)

This application was considered by East Area Planning Committee on 2 December 2015 and subsequently called in to this committee.

Site Address: 36 38 40 London Road And 2 Latimer Road, Headington

Proposal: Demolition of residential houses at 36, 38 and 40 London Road and 2 Latimer Road. Erection of 167 student study rooms and ancillary facilities on 4 and 5 levels plus basement, together with 2 x 2-bed and 2 x 3-bed maisonettes. Provision of 4 car parking spaces, 88 cycle parking spaces, landscaped areas and ancillary works. (Amended description, amended plans and additional information)

Officer recommendation: to approve the development for the reasons set out within appendix 1 of this report, with the conditions below and subject to the satisfactory completion of a legal agreement; and to delegate to the Head of Planning and Regulatory the issuing of the Notice of Permission upon its completion.

Conditions

1. Development begun within time limit.

2. Develop in accordance with approved plans.

3. Samples.

4. Tree Protection Plan.

5. Arboricultural Method Statement.

6. Utilities and Services Plan.

7. Hard Surfaces Plans (sections).

8. Landscape plan.

9. Landscape plan completion.

10. Landscape Management Plan.

11. Travel plans.

12. Students no cars.

13. Construction Travel Plan.

14. Strategy for arrivals and departures.

15. Bin and bike stores.

16. Car/cycle parking provision before use.

17. Variation of Road Traffic Order.

18. Bio-diversity enhancement.

Legal Agreements and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

Affordable housing contributions are required in two respects in relation to this proposal:

· Policy CS24 of the Core Strategy and Policy HP6 of the Sites and Housing Plan, supported by the Affordable Housing and Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which describe the circumstances under which contributions to affordable housing are required from student accommodation. The amount of contribution will be calculated in accordance with Appendix 4 of the Sites and Housing Plan, that is, £140 per m² internal residential floorspace; and,

· Policy HP4 of the Sites and Housing Plan, which requires a financial contribution from sites providing between 4 and 9 dwellings towards the provision of affordable housing elsewhere in the City. The amount of contribution will be calculated in accordance with Appendix 2 of the Sites and Housing Plan, that is, 15% of the total sale value of the properties to be built.

The applicant has made an offer in line with those policies which will be of the order of some £573,000 and £285,000 respectively (index linked) which will be secured via a S106 planning agreement in the event that this application is approved.

A legal agreement is also required to secure Travel Plan monitoring fees of £1,240.

Minutes:

The Committee considered an application for planning permission for the demolition of residential houses at 36, 38 and 40 London Road and 2 Latimer Road. Erection of 167 student study rooms and ancillary facilities on 4 and 5 levels plus basement, together with 2 x 2-bed and 2 x 3-bed maisonettes. Provision of 4 car parking spaces, 88 cycle parking spaces, landscaped areas and ancillary works. (Amended description, amended plans and additional information).

The Committee noted that the East Area Planning Committee on 2 December 2015 resolved to refuse planning permission for the following reasons:

1. The height, mass and bulk of the main building is overbearing and does not form an appropriate relationship to the street. The design does not appropriately relate to the context of its surroundings and does not show the high standard required for a building of this size on this prominent key location. The height and design has a significant adverse impact on the privacy, outlook and amenity of neighbouring buildings. This is contrary to policies CP1, CP6, CP8, CP10 and CS18 of the adopted local plan.

2. The development has an unacceptable adverse impact on community safety by reason of overlooking of the adjacent school playground and because of traffic movements and which seriously reduces the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, contrary to policy CS19.

That decision had been called in to this Committee on the grounds that the robustness of the decision in relation to adopted policy needed to be tested.

The Planning Officer presented the report and briefed the Committee on the main developments since the previous submission of the application. She assured the Committee that the majority of the issues and questions raised by the East Area Planning Committee in December 2015 had been addressed by officers and the applicant as detailed at paragraph 5 of the report. In addition she confirmed that the applicant had agreed to provide £5000 towards a barrier at Latimer Grange to be secured through the legal agreement.

She said that with regard to the safeguarding concerns she had visited the development site and the Headington School grounds and buildings and had taken advice from the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Team. She confirmed that the applicant was willing to address this concern through the introduction of some form of screening to the western elevation of the development. However she was concerned about the negative visual impact this might have on the building and also on the light quality in the student rooms. She recommended the inclusion of a further condition for some form of screening or obscured glazing.

Richard Couzens (Headington School), Richard Burden (St Luke’s Housing Society), Jeremy Burgess (St Luke’s Housing Society), Gareth Jones (resident) and Councillor Ruth Wilkinson (ward councillor and member of East Area Planning Committee) spoke against the application.

Roger Smith (Agent), Sue Holmes (Oxford Brookes University), Jagdeep Bhogal (Unite Student Accommodation) and Mike Mansell (Applicant) spoke in support of the application.

The Committee asked questions of the officers and the speakers to clarify a number of matters.

The Committee noted:

· that the Highway Authority had not raised any objection to the scheme

· that the County as drainage authority was content that the scheme deals adequately with drainage requirements

· that the main access to the development would be from London Road, with service and disabled parking access from Latimer Road

· the concerns about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists due to increased traffic on the existing dual lane pavement, but acknowledged that this was not a valid reason for refusal

· that the suggestion that the site would be better suited to development for key worker housing was not a valid reason for refusal

The main focus of the Committee consideration was the safeguarding concerns about the implications of the study-bedroom windows overlooking Headington Junior School buildings, grounds and playground. The Committee spent some time considering what practical measures could be taken to mitigate this problem.

A motion to refuse the application for the reason set out below was lost on being put to the vote.

· The height mass and bulk of the main building is overbearing and does not form an appropriate relationship to the street. The design does not appropriately relate to the context of its surroundings and does not show the high standard required for a building of this size on this prominent key location. The height and design has a significant adverse impact on the privacy, outlook and amenity of neighbouring buildings. This is contrary to policies CP1, CP6, CP8, CP10 and CS18 of the adopted local plan.

A motion to approve the application on the terms recommended and with the additional conditions set out below was carried on being put to the vote.

· Sustainable Urban Drainage System

· a pre-commencement condition to prevent overlooking of the Headington School grounds and buildings by obscured glazing or screening the western elevation of the development. Such a scheme to be developed in consultation with the applicant, Headington School and the County and City Council safeguarding officers; to consider the inclusion of obscured glazing on the Headington School buildings; to protect the amenity needs of the student residents; and to be approved by Oxford City Council.

The Committee resolved to GRANT application 15/00858/FUL subject to the following conditions and satisfactory completion of a legal agreement; and to delegate to the Head of Planning and Regulatory the issuing of the Notice of Permission upon its completion: