Site address:                   East Oxford Games Hall, 5 Collins Street, Oxford, OX4 1XS

Proposal:                         Demolition of games hall and erection of 14 residential dwellings formed of 8 one-bedroom and 6 two-bedroom apartments, with associated access and landscaping. (Amended plans)

Recommendation:

The West Area Planning Committee is recommended to:

1.     approve the application for the reasons given in the report and subject to the required planning conditions set out in section 12 of the report and grant planning permission subject to:

·       the completion of a 21 day consultation period (closing on 10^th December 2020) required due to the submission of amended plans.

2.     agree to delegate authority to the Head of Planning Services to:

·       consider and deal with any further representations received during the remainder of the consultation period including deciding whether it is necessary to refer the application back to the committee prior to issuing the permission and to add any conditions required in connection with those representations;

·       finalise the recommended conditions as set out in the report including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as the Head of Planning Services considers reasonably necessary; and

·       issue the planning permission.

The Committee considered an application (20/01298/CT3) for planning permission for the demolition of games hall and erection of 14 residential dwellings formed of 8 one-bedroom and 6 two-bedroom apartments, with associated access and landscaping. (Amended plans)

The Planning Officer presented the report and made the following corrections to the published report for application 20/01298/CT3:

·         HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 1998 – should read: “Officers have considered the implications of the Human Rights Act 1998 in reaching a recommendation to approve this application”.

·         SECTION 17 OF THE CRIME AND DISORDER ACT 1998 - second sentence should read: “In reaching a recommendation to grant planning permission…”

The Planning Officer recommended the removal of the parking permit informative and to replace it with the following condition:

The development hereby permitted shall not be occupied until the Order governing parking at the application site has been varied by the Oxfordshire County Council as highway authority to exclude the site, subject to this permission, from eligibility for resident's parking permits and residents' visitors' parking permits unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

Reason: To ensure that the development does not generate a level of vehicular parking which would be prejudicial to highway safety, or cause parking stress in the immediate locality, in accordance with policy M3 of the Oxford Local Plan.

The Planning Officer also advised that the recommendation to approve the application in the report be made subject to the prior completion of a planning obligation with the County Council to secure the amendment of the Traffic Regulation Order governing parking permits.

The Planning Officer informed the Committee that one additional comment had been received objecting to the application due to its impact on parking; the issues raised were addressed in the officer report.

Hagan Lewisman (OCC officer), representing the applicant, spoke in favour of the application.

In response to questions from the Committee the Planning Officer confirmed that the exact details of the bike storage on the second floor would be determined by Condition 17; and that, as detailed in paragraph 10.87 of the report, the development would deliver an improvement on Building Regulations L2A 2013 of 71.2%,   which was in excess of the Local Plan requirement.

In reaching its decision, the Committee considered all the information put before it.

After debate and on being proposed, seconded and put to the vote, the Committee agreed with the officer’s recommendation to approve the application, subject to the removal of the parking permit informative, the addition of a new condition on parking and the requirement for a planning obligation with the County Council to secure the amendment of the traffic regulation order..

The West Area Planning Committee resolved to:

1.    approve the application for the reasons given in the report subject to the completion of a planning obligation with the County Council to secure the amendment of the traffic regulation order governing the site to exclude the site from eligibility for residents’ and visitors’ parking permits and the required planning conditions set out in section 12 of the report together with an additional condition on parking and the deletion of the informative on parking and subject also to:

·         completion of a 21 day consultation period (closing on 10December 2020) required due to the submission of amended plans.

2.    delegate authority to the Head of Planning Services to:

·         consider and deal with any further representations received during the remainder of the consultation period including deciding whether it is necessary to refer the application back to the committee prior to issuing the permission and to add any conditions required in connection with those representations;

·         finalise the recommended conditions as set out in the report including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as the Head of Planning Services considers reasonably necessary; and

·         issue the planning permission following the satisfactory completion of a planning obligation with the County Council as referred to above.