Agenda and draft minutes

Councillor Kay welcomed everyone to the meeting. Members of the Committee and officers introduced themselves and the Chair outlined the procedures for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillors Spall and Woolf.

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 as per the agenda.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 1 October 2019 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

Conversion of 33 existing garages and 32 storage units to create six new residential units (1no. studio, 1 no. 1 bed, 4 no. 2 bed) (following external alterations and front extensions), a community centre and caretaker's office and the use of three further existing garages for refuse and cycle storage, together with associated landscaping and estate improvement works.

(Planning application number: P2019/1945/FUL)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·       The Planning Officer informed the meeting of an update to Condition 2 so as to clarify that the following drawings; BMM?LGA?00?00?DR?A-100-01/Rev.P3, BMM?LGA?00?00?DR?A-100-03/Rev.P3, BMM?LGA?00?00?DR?A?100-04/Rev.P3 should have the suffix ‘dated October 2019’ added.

·       Members were advised that the  site is not within an Employment Growth Area, or within the Central Activities Zone. It is within the Barnsbury Conservation Area.

·       With regards to the impact of the scheme on the amenity of neighbouring amenities, the Planning Officer advised that the proposal accords with policy DM2.1 of the Development Management Policies 2013.

·       On the proposed removal of 2 trees, Members were advised that the trees are considered poor in quality (being  Category U trees which are classified as unsuitable for retention). In addition the officer has recommended a condition to ensure the protection of the remaining trees during construction. A further landscaping condition is recommended to ensure maximisation of green space/landscaping (including a commitment to replace the trees to be lost where possible).

·       The Planning officer advised that although the proposal would result in the loss of 33 no existing garages and 32 no storage units within the wider estate, the proposal would still retain 37 no. garages and 48 no. storage areas which the applicant has suggested would be available for letting to residents of the estate. Members were reminded that there is no protection for retaining car parking  within the Development Plan.

·       On the quality of the proposed dwellings, the meeting was advised that the proposed units are considered good standard residential accommodation that will receive acceptable level of daylight/sunlight, and exceeds the minimum floorspace standards.

·       Members heard representation from a number of objectors and the issues raised included the loss of garage for storage space for existing residents; increase in density; loss of privacy;  loss of the existing community facilities; poor standard of residential accommodation; lack of daylight and the proposed amenity space not being up to standard.

·       Councillor Champion, the ward councillor acknowledged objectors concerns in particular the impact of the scheme on the amenity of the existing residents.

·       On the nomination rights, the Chief Executive of Barnsbury Housing Association (BHA) in response indicated that existing tenants will be offered first refusal after which it would be offered to council tenants through waiting lists.

·       In response to issues raised by the objector, the BHA Chief Executive acknowledged the difficulty in building social housing in the borough due to the high prices of land, reminding the meeting that the scheme being proposed followed a period  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Change of use of part ground floor, basement and lower basement from Use Class B8 (storage) to flexible commercial use within Use Classes A3, A4 and D2. Replacement of ground floor facade and entrance doors, and fenestration to enclose existing ramp.

(Planning application number: P2018/1580/FUL)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·       The Planning Officer advised that since the publication of the agenda, further correspondence had been received from objectors requesting amendments to conditions 2 and 8 if members were minded to grant planning permission.

·       Members were advised that the site lies within Clerkenwell Green Conservation Area and Central Activities Zone and 50m to the rear of the site is the listed Grade I Charterhouse building.

·       The Planning Officer advised the meeting that issues for consideration are acceptability of the loss of B8 Use, the acceptability of the introduced Use classes A3/A4/D2, the impact on the neighbouring amenity and the impact of the proposal design on conservation and heritage matters.

·       The Planning Officer advised members that most of the physical alterations would be to the entrance of the building as it will be replaced with a modern glazed element and officers have considered the application in context of its potential harm to the character or visual appearance of the host building, the surrounding conservation area, and the setting of the adjacent and adjoining statutorily listed buildings.

·       Members were advised that in this instance, the existing frontage to be altered, which is largely blank, does not make a positive contribution to the streetscene and its removal is considered to be acceptable in principle.

·       The Planning Officer reminded members of a similar application which was previously refused in 2017, which was subsequently upheld at appeal and the primary difference between the previous and the current application is that the previous application also included A1 retail within a flexible commercial use. Reasons for refusal given were unjustified loss of B8 floor space and impact of a potential loss of 5580sqm A1 unit outside the town centre.

·       With regards to the loss of existing B8 floor space, members were informed that the applicant had provided evidence to demonstrate that the site had been subject to active continuous marketing for a number of years, information which council officers have reviewed and are satisfied that it meets the objectives and requirements as outlined in Appendix 11 of the Development Management Policies 2013.

·       Members were advised that considering the proposal no longer includes an A1 retail element, it was not necessary for officers to carry out a sequential test to support the location of a significant amount of retail space in an out of Town Centre location. 

·       With regards to the proposed flexible A3/A4/D2 use, Planning officer reminded members that although the area around Farringdon has a significant concentration of late licensing premises, officers having carried out a land use survey of the ground floor units of the buildings fronting St John’s Street and neighbouring areas and have concluded that there is not an over-concentration of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.