Site address: 195 Botley Road And Units 1 And 1A Botley Retail Park Botley Road, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX2 0HY

Proposal: Demolition of existing retail buildings and erection of two laboratory and office buildings for research and development, as well as flexible ground floor commercial space (Use Class E). Provision of a cycle parking store, altered vehicular access onto Botley Road, plant, landscaping and associated works.

Reason at Committee: Major Development

RECOMMENDATION

Oxford City 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 this report and grant planning permission; and subject to:

the satisfactory completion of a legal agreement under section.106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers to secure the planning obligations set out in the recommended heads of terms which are set out in this report; and

agree to delegate authority to the Director of Planning & Regulation to:

finalise the recommended conditions as set out in this report including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as requested by the Lead Local Flood Authority and as the Director of Planning and Regulation considers reasonably necessary; and

finalise the recommended legal agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers as set out in this report, including refining, adding to, amending and/or deleting the obligations detailed in the heads of terms set out in this report (including to dovetail with and where appropriate, reinforce the final conditions and informatives to be attached to the planning permission) as the Director of Planning & Regulation considers reasonably necessary; and

complete the section 106 legal agreement referred to above and issue the planning permission.

The Committee considered an application for the demolition of existing retail buildings and erection of two laboratory and office buildings for research and development, as well as flexible ground floor commercial space (Use Class E). Provision of a cycle parking store altered vehicular access onto Botley Road, plant, landscaping and associated works.

The Planning Officer gave a presentation outlining the details of the location and the proposal. This included site photos and existing and proposed elevations and plans:

• The application sought planning permission for the redevelopment of the existing brownfield site to provide high quality research and development and office use with associated café and event space, car and cycle parking, as well as new hard and soft landscape planting.
• The development would make the best and most efficient use of the site and provide a high quality and sustainable development. It would provide increased employment and meet the demand for high quality laboratories for life sciences and contribute towards Oxford’s post-pandemic growth and global reputation. The development would positively enhance the character and appearance of the area through contemporary design and new public landscaped area to the front with Botley Road.
• The building would be visible in high-level long-distance views and resulted in a moderate level of less than substantial harm to the setting of Oxford and the Central Conservation Area. It was considered that the level of public benefits derived from the development outweighed the harm in this case. Whilst the building would also be visible from other surrounding views the effect would not be significant when taking into account visibility of the existing warehouse buildings.
• The proposed development was mainly in Flood Zone 1 however, a small area of the site was in Flood Zones 2 and 3. The proposed use was deemed acceptable within Flood Zone 3 and the development would maintain the existing flood water storage area, would not contribute towards flooding of the area, and would provide acceptable flood mitigation and drainage including sustainable drainage systems would be provided.
• There would be a significant reduction in car parking, sufficient cycle parking provided was to be provided, and there was no adverse impact on the highway in terms of traffic generation subject to conditions and contributions towards Botley Road highways improvements, bus services, improvements at the railway station and Travel Plan.
• The development was not considered to have a detrimental impact on the amenity of adjacent residential properties in terms of sunlight, daylight, overbearing or overlooking.
• Public amenity afforded by existing trees would be maintained and there was to be a net gain in biodiversity as a result of new tree and other soft landscape planting. The potential presence of protected habitats and species had been given due regard and there was no harm as a result of the development.
• Officers were of the view that taking all material considerations into account on balance with the application was acceptable in accordance with the NPPF and the Oxford Local Plan, subject to appropriate worded conditions and subject to financial contributions set out in section 3 of the report.

Councillor Muddiman and Adrian Rosser spoke against the application.

David Bloy, Richard Warwick and Alexandra Milne spoke in favour of the application.

The Committee asked questions about the details of the application which were responded to by officers and the applicant. The Committee’s discussions included, but were not limited to:

• Concerns were raised regarding disabled parking spaces. The Planning Officer responded that there is no standard for disabled parking, as it is considered on a case-by-case basis and confirmed that the County had raised no objections to the two parking spaces that were proposed for combined disabled and operational uses.
• Questions were raised regarding the sewage issue. The Development Manager explained that the any conditions regarding sewage treatment or foul water network requested by Thames Water were about ensuring sufficient upgrades to handle additional flows from the development. He added that it was the responsibility of both the developer and Thames Water to address and discharge these conditions.
• Concerns were raised regarding the impact of the development on daylight and sunlight to neighbours.. The Planning Officer responded that not all properties were affected. The report set out that the BRE guidance does not count non-habitable rooms such as landings, so property No.182 Botley Road was therfore discounted. Property No.192 Botley Road was identified as the most affected, while other properties, based on submitted information would receive adequate daylight and sunlight. The affected windows at No.192 were the ground floor bedroom and sitting room.  In respect of the bedroom while there would be a reduction in daylight, this room has an eternal projection above it and when the proposed development was assessed without the projection, the room still had sufficient daylight. Therefore, it was concluded that the development itself was not the cause of the light loss but the property itself and therefore unreasonable to refuse permission on this basis. The bedroom would also experience a noticeable reduction in sunlight. However in view of sunlight to bedroom being less critical due to their use in accordance with BRE Guidelines, this reduction was considered acceptable in this case.
• Regarding overshadowing of the PV to No.192 Botley Road, Officers explained that in accordance with BRE guidelines, the development would not adversely affect the PV.  Notwithstanding this they considered that the greater contribution towards renewable energy systems by the proposed development and therefore its mitigation towards the impact of climate change would outweigh any impact on the PV’s in this case. . 
• Officers advised two additional conditions relating to foul water network and water network as requested by Thames Water were required.

On being proposed, seconded, and put to the vote, the Committee agreed with the officer’s recommendation to approve the application for the reasons set out in the report and subject to conditions including the two additional conditions and a legal agreement.

The Oxford City Planning Committee resolved to:

• Approve the application for the reasons given in the report and subject to the required planning conditions set out in section 12 of this report and including the two additional conditions and grant planning permission; and subject to:
• the satisfactory completion of a legal agreement under section.106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers to secure the planning obligations set out in the recommended heads of terms which are set out in this report; and

• Agree to delegate authority to the Director of Planning & Regulation to:
• finalise the recommended conditions as set out in this report including such refinements, amendments, additions and/or deletions as requested by the Lead Local Flood Authority and as the Director of Planning and Regulation considers reasonably necessary; and
• finalise the recommended legal agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and other enabling powers as set out in this report, including refining, adding to, amending and/or deleting the obligations detailed in the heads of terms set out in this report (including to dovetail with and where appropriate, reinforce the final conditions and informatives to be attached to the planning permission) as the Director of Planning & Regulation considers reasonably necessary; and
• complete the section 106 legal agreement referred to above and issue the planning permission.