Agenda item

Stopping-up and Diversion of Highways - Sections 247 and 253 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for three narrow sections of footway along the building line of the proposed building

(Planning application number: P2024/1611/DOV)

In the discussion the following points were made:

·Meeting was advised that since the publication of the report a second despatch agenda has been published amending the description of the proposal to read ‘ Stopping Up Order of existing highway/footway for three narrow sections of footway along the building line of the proposed building to enable the redevelopment of 1 Torrens Street site for an office-led use.

·The areas of land to which the application to stop up the highway and footway relates are three modest areas of footway which border the building line of the proposed building.

·Planning Officer advised that the areas were previously part of the adopted footway and while they would still essentially form part of the footway, they are now in between pillars under the overhang of the proposed building. Area A is a triangular shaped area of some 0.125sqm in size. Area B is 7.31m in length and 0.58m in width, while Area C is 5.89m long and 0.45m wide.

·The planning application for 1 Torrens Street (planning application reference P2022/0871/FUL) has recently been approved and the development is under construction.

·Planning Officer advised that the proposal relates to the stopping up of sections of the footway along Islington High Street and City Road under Section 247 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in connection with the implementation of the planning permission ref: P2022/0871/FUL that granted:

·Meeting was advised that the council’s Highway Officer has no objection to the proposed stopping up of the relevant sections of footway on City Road and Islington High Street.

·Planning Officer acknowledged that no public or external consultation has been carried out by the Council in respect of the current stopping up application, however should the Committee resolve to approve the stopping up before making the Orders, the council would carry out consultation as required by Section 252 of the Act.

·Any consultation would involve consulting statutory undertakers, posting site notices and publishing the proposed orders in a local newspaper and the London Gazette. A 28-day consultation period would allow interested parties to respond.

·Meeting were reminded that section 247(2A) of the Act provides that the council of a London borough may by order authorise the stopping up or diversion of any highway within the borough if it is satisfied that it is necessary to do so in order to enable development to be carried out in accordance with planning permission granted under Part III of the Act.

·It was reiterated that the layout of the proposed development of 1 Torrens Street has already been considered and approved under application ref P2022/0871/FUL following a full statutory public consultation exercise and that the approved layout plans would require the stopping up of the areas of land that are the subject of the report and that the stopping up now being proposed would give effect to the above described planning permission as shown on Plan No. ANG-STR-XX-00-DR-H-00304.

·The proposed stopping up of the area of land would not result in a permanent loss of public land or footway, in that it principally pushes the building line back so that the area of public footway is widened, with these three modest areas of footway now located under the overhang of the building. Officers, therefore, consider that there would be no disadvantages suffered by the public or by those with properties near the existing highway.

·Councillor Klute proposed a motion to approve the stopping order. This was seconded by Councillor North and carried.

RESOLVED:

That the starting of the stopping up process be approved subject to the applicant entering into an indemnity agreement to pay all the council’s costs in respect of the stopping up.