The Committee considered an application (24/00732/FUL) for the development of up to 22,375sqm open storage (Use Class B8) together with associated highways works, site-wide hard and soft landscaping works, and boundary treatment at UYS Ltd, Garsington Road, Oxford.

The Planning Officer gave a presentation and highlighted the following:

·       The application site was located in the north of the Unipart site, with access only through the Unipart site via Transport Way and Garsington Road.

·       The surrounding development consisted of large industrial warehousing and buildings associated with use by Unipart; the nearest residential dwellings were to the northeast at Horspath, over 200m from the site.  The surrounding land to the east consisted of open agricultural land.  The Northfields residential site allocation, within south Oxfordshire District, lay to the south of the Unipart buildings.  Visibility of the site from the surrounding landscape was limited.

·       The building had been unused since 2021 when UYS had vacated the premises.  Planning permission had previously been granted for a temporary Class B8 storage use: the existing building fell under a Class B2 light industrial use but marketing had indicated a level of interest in use of the building for storage purposes.  Permission had also been granted for urgent repair and refurbishment works to the building.  Despite this, firm interest in use of the building had not materialised.

·       The application before the committee sought temporary planning permission (7 years) for open air storage on the site, to be located on both the existing hardstanding below the former UYS building and on the car parking.  The application site fell within the former Unipart employment allocation in the Oxford Local Plan which allowed for Class B8 storage uses on the site, although as noted in the report there was a contradiction with Policy E1 of the Oxford Local Plan which was not permissive of storage and distribution uses on allocated employment sites, apart from where such use was necessary to support existing uses.

·       The applicant’s intention was to redevelop the site in the longer term, subject to delivering improvements to the existing access arrangements.  This application would therefore allow for a ‘meanwhile’ storage use whilst still retaining potential for long term, more permanent, redevelopment in order to generate employment opportunities.  Officers considered that this was preferable to the site remaining vacant for an extended period; the departure in technical terms from Policy E1 of the Oxford Local Plan was therefore considered to be justified, particularly as the proposal was compliant with the wider provisions of the Oxford Local Plan and the NPPF.

·       A total of six car parking and two cycle parking spaces were proposed on the site.  The proposal would involve a substantial reduction in forecast vehicle movements and so was considered to be acceptable in terms of access, highway safety and highway amenity terms.  It was also likely to have a reduced impact on adjoining properties in terms of noise than the former UYS building.

·       Provision had been made in the plans to secure biodiversity net gain of 15.89% and replacement tree planting for the loss of nine small trees in the car park area which would need to be removed.

·       For the reasons set out in the report, the application was recommended for approval subject to the required planning conditions set out in the report.

The Committee asked questions about the details of the application which were responded to by officers.

On being proposed, seconded and put to the vote the Committee agreed with the officer’s recommendation to approve the application subject to the required planning conditions set out in the report.

The Oxford City 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 12 of the report and grant planning permission; and

2.             delegate authority to the Head of Planning and Regulatory 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 and Regulatory Services considers reasonably necessary.