Agenda and minutes

Councillor Klute welcomed everyone to the meeting. Members of the Committee and officers introduced themselves.

Apologies were received from Councillor Khan.

There were no declarations of substitute members.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a)     Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b) Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f) Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

Councillor Poyser declared that he lived within 200m of Item B1 – 15-21 and 11-13 Benwell Road.

Councillor Convery declared that he lived within 200m of Item B3 – Fitzpatrick Building, 188-194 York Way.

The order of business would be B2, B3 and B1.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2016 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

Change of use of the existing buildings from 1,795sqm of warehouse (B8) floorspace to B1 (office) use and to A1/A3 use on the Holloway Road frontage. The application also involves a refurbishment of the existing buildings, including alterations and extensions resulting in 1,845sqm of office and 50sqm of restaurant/café floorspace.

(Planning application number: P2016/3347/FUL)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         The proposed scheme would result in the intensification of employment.

·         The planning officer confirmed that the bio-retention systems outlined in Condition 7 could either be on the ground or on the roof.

RESOLVED:

That planning permission be granted subject to the conditions and informatives set out in Appendix 1 of the officer report and subject to the prior completion of a Deed of Planning Obligation made under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 securing the heads of terms as set out in Appendix 1 of the officer report.

Demolition of the existing building and the erection of a 5 storey (plus basement) building including a total of 1,745 sqm of Class B1 floorspace comprising office and light industrial commercial floorspace.

(Planning application number: P2015/5102/FUL)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         The application had been deferred to enable the Design Review Panel to consider it. They had done so and made several points, each of which had been addressed.

·         There was an extant permission on the site to convert the office space into residential units. If the application being considered by the committee was refused, the applicant could implement the extant permission.

·         The planning officer advised that there was not an established D1 use as although the building had been used as a church and then a mosque, there had been a break in between.

·         The legal officer was asked to advise on whether fitness of purpose of the current building could be taken into account. She advised that the application before the committee was to demolish the existing building and rebuild on the site. She was unaware whether the current building was fit for purpose but this could be taken into account by the committee. The planning officer added that the existing building had no design merits that should be retained and was not an architecturally valuable building.

·         In response to a question about whether officers had considered community cohesion, the planning officer advised that this had not been a consideration as the application was for the demolition of an office building and its replacement with another office building.

·         The legal officer advised the committee that the use of the office building as a mosque was an unlawful use.

·         Members sympathised with the objectors but noted that from a planning perspective it was not possible to protect the use of the building as a mosque. This was an issue between the tenant and the landlord.

·         If planning permission was not granted, the mosque would not be in a worse position as the applicant could convert the office into residential units under the extant permission. It was suggested that ward councillors could try to help the mosque find another premises.

·         It was noted that the mosque had previously applied for planning permission for the mosque and an education centre. This was refused due to concerns about the education centre. It had been suggested than an application to retain the mosque could be submitted but this had not been done.

·         The application was policy compliant.

RESOLVED:

That planning permission be granted subject to the conditions and informatives set out in Appendix 1 of the officer report and subject to the prior completion of a Deed of Planning Obligation made under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 securing the heads of terms as set out in Appendix 1 of the officer report.

Demolition of the existing office building and redevelopment to provide a part 7 / part 8 / part 9 storey building to provide flexible B1 use, including basement, ancillary ground floor café, cycle parking, plant/storage, landscaping and all other necessary works associated with the development.

(Planning application number: P2016/1999/FUL)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         The planning officer advised that the application had been amended to change the flexible use business floorspace on the ground floor (148sqm GIA) and basement (188sqm GIA) to B1c light industrial floorspace. Revised plans had been submitted.

·         Several pro-forma representations in support of the proposal had been received which noted that the proposed scheme would accommodate 148 cycle parking spaces and would have a BREEAM excellent rating.

·         Concern was raised about public transport access. It was recognised that this was not as good as in other areas of the borough but it was within walking distance of Kings Cross and it was on bus routes.

·         The committee was shown samples of materials provided by the applicant.

·         In response to a question from a member, the planning officer advised that other than the 20 storey Maiden Lane estate, the area consisted of mainly two to three storey buildings.

·         The application was consistent with the emerging vision for Vale Royal and would bring in small and medium enterprises.

RESOLVED:

That planning permission be granted subject to the conditions and informatives set out in Appendix 1 of the officer report and subject to the prior completion of a Deed of Planning Obligation made under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 securing the heads of terms as set out in Appendix 1 of the officer report.

The Chair advised the committee that Victoria Geoghegan, Head of Development Management would be leaving the council at the end of the month. The committee thanked her for her hard work.