Agenda and minutes

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

There were no apologies for absence.

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 B3, B2 and B1.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 December 2018 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

Installation of a 38.8 metre flue ventilation along the northern side elevation of Emberton Court within the Brunswick Close Estate facing onto Tompion Street and associated new plant machinery within the existing ground floor redundant plantroom and associated alterations. 

(Planning application number: P2018/2532/FUL)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         Planning Officer advised that since publication of agenda, no additional updates to the report no any objections received.

·         Members were advised that the proposal seeks to make the plant room and boilers operational again to facilitate district heating for the residential properties on Bruswick Close Estate.

·         Members were informed that although Emberton Court is not listed nor within a conservation area, the site adjoins within 50 metres of two separate conservation areas notably Clerkenwell Green and Northampton Square Conservation Area. The Planning Officer acknowledged that due to the height of the building, the proposed works on the north-side elevation is visible from the surrounding areas and in close proximity to several adjoining Grade II Listed Buildings.

·         In response to a question, the Planning Officer acknowledged that although there is some limited visual harm related to the proposed flue, it is clearly less than substantial harm for the purposes of the guidance contained within the NPPF with identifiable and clear public benefits to the scheme to outweigh this limited visual harm.

·         Members agreed that on balance the benefit of the proposed development materially outweighs the visual harm that the project would cause to the setting of neighbouring listed buildings or the setting and views into and out of both adjoining conservation areas.

RESOLVED:

That following consideration of the case officer’s report (the assessment and recommendations therein), the presentation to Committee, submitted representations and objections provided verbally at this meeting, planning permission be granted subject to the conditions and informatives set out in Appendix 1 of the officer report.

Retention of two existing single storey storage containers to the south east of the site adjacent to the public highway of Auriga Mews for storage purposes in conjunction with the existing primary school.

(Planning application number: P2018/0946/FUL)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         Planning Officer advised that no additional updates since the agenda was published and no objections received.

·         Members were advised that planning consent was issued on 3 December 2014 for the erection of one storage container within the enclosed bin area of the school grounds on a temporary basis till 2017 which has elapsed.

·         The Planning Officer advised that although the location of the storage containers is not on land dedicated to outdoor recreational areas or has resulted in any increase in classroom floor space nor any loss of formal or informal playspace the storage containers are of poor quality and design.

·         Meeting was informed that a condition has been recommended to limit consent for a further 2 years to allow the school to find a better and more permanent form of storage space for the school.

Members agreed on an informative being attached to encourage the school to seek a more permanent solution to their storage facilities after this temporary permission expires.

Delegated wording of the informative:

Your attention is drawn to the fact that the council are only granting this further temporary permission on the basis that more permanent solution is found to the school's storage needs/facilities. The council do not support the permanent retention of the storage containers on the site. The school is encouraged to explore a more permanent yet contextual low scale building for storage purposes into the future. The council would encourage the school to enter into pre application discussions with the planning department to discuss future developments of this section of the site.

RESOLVED:

That following consideration of the case officer’s report (the assessment and recommendations therein), the presentation to Committee, submitted representations and objections provided verbally at this meeting, planning permission be granted subject to the conditions set out in Appendix 1 of the officer report and the additional informative stated above.

Installation of 4 no. floodlights attached to existing columns associated with the use of the existing Multi Use Games Area, to provide an outdoor playspace for children until 8.00pm Monday to Friday.

(Planning application number: P2016/1803/FUL)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         The Planning Officer advised that since publication of the agenda there were 2 additional objection letters submitted after the publishing of the report, including one from the Residents Association raising additional issues with the wording of the conditions and assessment of the report, and another additional comments from a resident who had already objected.

·         The officer also clarified to members that the reference to the City of London Corporation Planning Department objecting to the application was incorrect and that it was a local Councillor from the City of London who had objected.

·         Objectors were concerned with the levels of noise from the use of the MUGA and its impact on their amenity and the amount of light spillage from the flood lights.

·         In response to the extended hours of use of the MUGA, the Planning officer advised that a condition is to be included to ensure that it is used by the school children and not for commercial use. Members were reminded that the conditions restricting the hours of operation between the hours of 0900 and 2000 hours Monday to Friday had been included in the planning permission when granted 4 years ago.

·         With regards to concerns about the lack of an acoustic barrier to ameliorate the noise levels from the MUGA, the Planning Officer informed Members that advice from the Council’s Pollution Officer confirms that the current proposal is acceptable without an acoustic screen.

·         Officer advised member that previous noise and acoustic conditions in relation to the substantive permission being the originally approved Multi-Use Games Area was subject to conditions, relating specifically to noise, included conditions 13 (noise assessment) and 15 (acoustic controls). Details for these two conditions were subsequently approved on 10/04/2008. The submitted details were reviewed by the Council’s Public Protection Team who confirmed that the details were sufficient to comply with the requirements of these conditions.

·         Members agreed that the proposed development is in line with planning polices and has no material harm in terms of land use, design, or noise and light pollution to nearby residential properties.

RESOLVED:

That following consideration of the case officer’s report (the assessment and recommendations therein), the presentation to Committee, submitted representations and objections provided verbally at this meeting, planning permission be granted subject to the conditions and informatives set out in Appendix 1 of the officer report.