Agenda and minutes

Councillor Donovan-Hart welcomed everyone to the meeting. Members of the Committee and officers introduced themselves.

Apologies were received from Councillors Khan, Court, Fletcher and  Ward.

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.

There were no declarations of interest.

The order of business would be B2 and B1.

Officers advised Members that the printed minutes on page 7 of the agenda should be amended to read ‘That Planning permission be granted for the part of the proposed development within the London Borough of Islington for the reasons outlined above and subject to: ‘

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 March 2018 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings subject to the amendments stated above and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

The construction of 41 new dwelling units comprising 6 x 1B2P, 6 x 2B3P, 25 x 2B4P, 3 x 3B5P and 1 x4B6P with associated amenity space, for affordable and private homes, provided in five residential mews blocks ranging from 1 to 4 storeys in height and one residential block of 6 storeys in height, bicycle parking spaces and improvements to the public realm; the provision of 39sqm of space for community use; and the demolition of lock-up storage units and site management office, the demolition and relocation of the sub-station; and the conversion of two existing dwellings to bicycle, refuse and ancillary storage.

(Planning application number: P2017/2936/FUL)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         The Planning Officer advised Members that the proposal will deliver a mix of high quality residential accommodation including family sized homes of which 27 (66%) will be affordable homes for social rent, a significant increase in affordable homes in accordance with London Plan (Policy 3.3). In addition the scheme would result in improvements to the public realm and the re provision of useable amenity space and qualitative improvements to the estate’s landscaping.

·         Members were advised that the scheme would result in the improvement to the frontage building onto Highbury Roundabout/Canonbury Road and the initial heights of the building had been reduced in light of concerns about the density of the site and trees have been retained to ensure that any impact on neighbouring amenity is minimised.  

·         Objectors welcomed the proposed regeneration of the area but had concerns with the impact of the scheme on the surrounding heritage assets such as Canonbury Conservation Area and the Grade II listed terrace dwellings along Compton Road. Other concerns included loss of privacy due to the height of block 6, the overdevelopment of the site, daylight and sunlight loss, the quality of accommodation, the loss of trees and car parking spaces.

·         In response to the objectors concerns about loss of open spaces, Members were advised by the applicant that the proposed scheme would provide a large communal garden area along the boundary with the neighbouring school. In addition Members were informed that several new private gardens would be provided and new soft landscaping and tree planting along the frontage of the proposed mew buildings.

·         In response to an objectors concern that inaccurate verified views or GGI’s had been used to assess the application, the Planning Officer advised that planning assessments, recommendations were not based on verified views or CCI but rather on scaled drawings and plans.   On the issue said and Cllr Kay also reiterated that planning assessments, recommendations and decisions are not based on verified views or CGIs but rather on scaled drawings and plans. As such, presence of CGIs that may or may not be distorted do not influence decisions

·         With regards to the loss of daylight, Members were advised that vast majority of neighbouring residential properties would not suffer noticeable losses of VSC and daylight distribution and would retain good levels of daylight  ...  view the full minutes text for item 382.

Application to vary condition 20 (Ballcourt Playspace Management and Maintenance Strategy) and 28 (Opening hours of ballcourt and associated floodlighting) of planning permission P2016/0391/S73 which granted permission for (summary): Demolition of existing two-storey residential building and 81 garages to allow for 70 new homes across 9 infill sites; alterations and extension to ground floor of Threadgold House to create a residential unit and community rooms; a part two, part three-storey terraced row facing Wall Street; a part single, part three and part four-storey extension to the north east corner of Ongar House; a four-storey extension to the west elevation of Ongar House; a three storey terraced row replacing Romford House; a four-storey block between Warley House and No.53 Mitchinson Road; part single, part two-storey terraced row to the end of Warley House; provision of new green space and sports/play facilities, including new ball court, cycle storage, public realm improvements across the estate; and relocation of Baxter Road to the front of Romford House; and associated amendments including increase in overall building heights.

CHANGES NOW PROPOSED: To extend the opening hours (including floodlighting) by 1.0 hour to 9.00pm.

(Planning application number: P2017/2621/S73)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         The Planning Officer informed Members that the application seeks to vary the condition of hours that had been conditioned when planning permission was granted in 2015, that it seeks to extend the opening hours (including floodlighting) by 1 hour to 9.00pm.

·         Members were advised that petitions both in support and objection to extending the use of the ball court by an hour had been received.

·         The Planning Officer advised that the relocation of the ball court in closer proximity to neighbouring residents would act as a natural surveillance and potentially improve the security of the facility. In addition the Officer reminded Members that the ball court lies within a wider public amenity area which is accessible at any time of the day and night.

·         Neighbouring residents highlighted a number of concerns such as noise pollution impacting on their private amenity and light pollution as a result of the proposed flood lights. Residents were concerned that the applicants were seeking to overturn a planning condition (to close the ballcourt at 8pm) that the Committee had imposed when planning permission was agreed in January 2015 to protect the amenity of the neighbouring residents.

·         The objectors were concerned that extending the opening hours would be detrimental to the peace and wellbeing of residents and also to the occupants of the new block which was currently being built for the over-55s.

·         In response to the objectors concerns about extending the hours of use, the applicant advised Members that closing the court at 8pm had resulted in a reduction in the amount of time available, with the result that it was causing tension and possible conflicts with the different groups wanting to use the ball court. Members were advised that the decision to revert to the original opening hours (9pm closing time) would address  ...  view the full minutes text for item 383.