Site address:                  13-21 Cornmarket Street, Oxford, OX1 3HE

Proposal:                        Change of use of basement, part ground and part first floor from retail (Use Class A1) to a GP Surgery (Use Class D1).      

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 11 of the report and grant planning permission.

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

·       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.

The Committee considered an application (20/01468/FUL) for change of use of basement, part ground and part first floor from retail (Use Class A1) to a GP Surgery (Use Class D1).

The Planning Officer presented the report and provided a verbal update to the submitted report, recommending the addition of a “Grampian condition” following additional consultation with the applicant requiring the submission of further details relating to the installation of a rising bollard to facilitate ambulance access to Cornmarket and Market Street and the implementation of the approved details.

Mr Simon Sharpe (Agent), Mr Matthew Bramhall (Practice Manager, King Edward St Medical Practice) and Mr David Stevenson (Jesus College) spoke in support of the application.

The Committee expressed some concerns about patient access to the Health Centre given the absence of parking in the immediate vicinity. Officers reaffirmed the view expressed in the report that access to public transport, city centre car parks and other considerations mitigated those concerns to a sufficient degree. It was also recognised that some responsibility for ensuring sufficient ease of access to healthcare facilities for patients lay with the NHS trust and the practices which would be re-locating.

The Committee noted that the proposed active frontage on Market Street was not as optimal as had been described in the Committee’s previous discussions about this site. It was recognised that as a Health Centre it would not be as active as if for retail use. Nonetheless it would be glass fronted and officers were satisfied that the applicant had done all that was reasonable in respect of the matter. It was also noted that the presence of the Health Centre would attract significant numbers of people who might not otherwise come to that part of the city centre which, combined with other improvements to Market Street, would increase the likelihood of increased footfall in the Covered Market.

The Committee expressed some concern about the ground floor lobby which, whilst it would be monitored by CCTV, might be vulnerable to unwanted and anti-social activity. It was determined that this would be a matter for the practice to address. 

Notwithstanding the concerns raised, the Committee welcomed the significant improvement to the local healthcare provision which the scheme would provide.

In reaching its decision the West Area Planning Committee considered all the information put before it.  On being proposed, seconded and put to the vote, the Committee agreed with the officers’ recommendation to approve the application with the addition of the delegation to the Head of Planning Services to finalise the wording of a Grampian condition to secure the details relating to the installation of a rising bollard to facilitate ambulance access to Cornmarket and Market Street and the implementation of the approved details.

The West Area Planning Committee resolved to:

1.    Approve the application for the reasons given in the report and subject to the required planning conditions set out in section 11 of the report including the addition of a further condition as referred to above and grant planning permission; and

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

·       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

·       Agree the wording of a Grampian condition relating to the provision of a rising bollard to facilitate ambulance access to Cornmarket and Market Street and the implementation of the approved details.