Agenda and draft minutes

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

Apologies were received from Councillor Clarke.

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.

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(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.

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This applies to all members present at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

The order of business would be as per the agenda.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 July 2023 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

(Planning application number: P2023/2844/S73)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·       The application site comprises a basement unit located within a prominent corner building at the junction of City Road, Bath Street and Shepherdess Walk. The building is six stories high on the City Road frontage and drops to five stories with a setback sixth floor to the Bath Street frontage. An additional two stories have been recently constructed above the existing building. The building is not statutory nor locally listed but it is located within the Moorfields Conservation Area. 

·       This section of City Road is predominantly commercial in character with residential accommodation on the upper levels. Moorfields Eye Hospital and Old Street roundabout are located to the east.

·       The site also falls within the designated Central Activity Zone, City Fringe Opportunity Area, Archaeological Priority Area and the Licensing Bunhill Cumulative Area.

·       The amendments include the extension of hours of operation to 11:00 to 00:00 Monday to Thursday, Sunday, and Bank Holidays and 11:00 to 01:30 (the following day) Friday and Saturday (Increase of 1 extra hour Monday to Thursday and 2 ½ hours on Saturday).

·       It is noted that Condition 2 (Hours of operation) of Planning Permission 841340 dated 15 June 1984 erroneously missed mentioning Saturdays.  The proposed amendments to the hours of operation would therefore also gives an opportunity to clarify the opening hours for Saturdays.  

·       Meeting was advised that no objections were received from the Public Protection Division (Noise Team) as the proposed change is additional hour Monday to Thursday and 2.5hrs on Saturday, noting that the premises licence for the previous operator, the Bavarian Beerhouse has permitted opening hours in line with this.

·       Also the Designing Out Crime Officer commented that in principle, the proposal does not appear to be contentious from a crime prevention perspective.

·       Meeting was reminded that there is currently an extant premises licence in place under the Landlord’s name Monopro Limited.

·       A noise management plan with guidance on minimising disturbance, antisocial behaviour and noise impacts from patrons’ access and egress as well as a complaint procedure has been submitted and it sets out mitigation measures which would involve responsibility for the management controls assumed by the manager, trained staff and event organisers.  It was also stated that the external door to the premises will be kept closed during the evening, except when being used for immediate access and egress, in order to minimise noise break-out from the premises. In addition, signs would be prominently displayed by the door and there would be polite notices from staff reminding patrons and smokers of the proximity of neighbours and encouraging them to keep their voices down. Taxis will be encouraged to turn off their engines while waiting and not sound their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

Installation of a new generator and erection of associated enclosure with surrounding landscaping to support the operation of the Supported Living Accommodation building approved via planning permission ref: P2017/3493/FUL.

(Planning application number: P2023/2863/FUL)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·       The site forms part of the Cumming Estate, made up of 3 x 5-storey residential blocks to the east and a 6-storey residential block to the west. To the south of the site is a terrace of locally listed 3-storey Georgian townhouses with basements and with rear gardens. To the north, on the opposite side of Windsor Street, is a 3-storey building in commercial use.

·       Meeting was advised that this is a council owned application.

·       The site is located in St Mary's & St James' Ward, does not lie within a Conservation Area however the southern boundary of the site forms the northern most extent of the Duncan Terrace / Colebrooke Road Conservation Area.

·       Planning permission is sought for the installation of a new generator enclosure within the Turnbull House estate open space, adjacent to the recently built supported living residential accommodation on Windsor Street. Associated landscaping is also proposed to surround the enclosure.

·       Consent for the supported living residential accommodation on Windsor Street was granted under planning permission ref: P2017/3493/FUL, dated 09/05/2018. The approved fire strategy for this development requires a secondary supply to provide power to the wheelchair evacuation lift in the event of an emergency. Given the nature of the approved development, the necessity of providing a generator for a fire evacuation lift is recognised.

·       The applicant explored a number of options to provide the generator within the site boundary of the supported living development, which were presented to the Local Planning Authority for review. Due to the minimal amount of external amenity space provided within the supported living development, it was advised that the options presented would not be acceptable due to the impact they would have on the residential amenity of future residents. The application therefore seeks permission to install the generator and associated housing outside of the original site boundary, within the Turnbull House estate open space.

·       The proposal would install a 19sqm generator enclosure adjacent to the supported living development within the grounds of Turnbull House. This part of the grounds was included within the blue line of the supported living residential development as the site was not large enough for construction site offices to be contained within the red line boundary. There was an agreement in place between Islington’s New Build Team and Islington’s Estates Services Team that this land could be used to facilitate development. To allow this space to be used for site offices, the removal of three trees and some thick undergrowth was required. The replacement of these trees was required by the Directors’ Letter associated with permission ref: P2017/3493/FUL and it was the intention of the New Build Team to provide these alongside new grassland once the site office is removed. A new agreement is in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.