Agenda item

To consider report PES/282 (c)of the Head of Economic and Environmental Services.

 

RECOMMENDATION to PERMIT

 

 

The Committee considered report PES/282 (C) of the Head of Economic and Environmental Services which proposed as follows:

 

Erection of a part 8/part 6 storey building to provide a total of 98 flats, with associated parking, landscaping and frontage service bay.

 

Councillors Boxall, Jaggard, Stone and Tarrant declared they had visited the site.

 

The Principal Planning Officer provided a verbal summation of the application and the following updates:

 

Amendments to recommended conditions as follows (in italics):

 

4.     Notwithstanding the submitted elevation, section and floorplan drawings, no above ground development shall be carried out unless and until revised elevational, section and floorplan drawings, including detailed drawings at appropriate scales of not more than 1:20, showing the proposed walls, fenestration and materials, have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The development shall be carried out in strict accordance with the approved details.

REASON: As insufficient detail has been provided, given changes in materials and appearance since the previous planning permission and to enable the Local Planning Authority to control the development in detail in the interests of amenity by endeavouring to achieve a building of visual quality in accordance with Policy CH3 of the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2015-2030.

6     The building hereby approved shall be constructed in strict accordance with the land levels, finished floor levels and overall building height specified on the approved drawings and in other documents submitted with the application unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

REASON: To enable the Local Planning Authority to control the development in detail in the interests of amenity, aircraft safety and the operations of NATS En-route PLC in accordance with Policies CH3 and IN1 of the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2015-2030.

8      No construction work shall be carried out above 10m AGL unless and until the approved Radar Mitigation Scheme has been implemented and the development shall thereafter be operated fully in accordance with such approved Scheme.

        REASON: In the interests of aircraft safety and the operations of NATS En-route PLC in accordance with Policy IN1 of the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2015-2030.

23.   Before any above ground works are carried out, a scheme shall have been submitted to and approved in writing by the LocalPlanningAuthority to protect the dwellings hereby approved against noise from Northgate Avenue.

1.  For the purposes of this condition the scheme shall include:

(i)     Identifying the level of noise exposure for each dwelling and the means by which the noise level within any (unoccupied) domestic living room or bedroom, with windows open, shall be no more than 35 dB L_Aeq,16hr (between 0700 and 2300) and no more than 30dB L_Aeq,8hr (between 2300 and 0700); and

(ii)    the means by which the noise level within any (unoccupied) domestic bedroom, with windows open, shall not normally exceed 45dB L_AFMax between 2300 and 0700.

    The standards in (i) and/or (ii) must be achieved with the use of alternative window and façade design which mitigates against the ingress of noise.

2. Where the standards in (i) and/or (ii) above are not fully achievable then the scheme must demonstrate how the standards will be achieved with windows shut and alternative forms of natural ventilation provided, which will effectively deal with summer overheating.

3.  If it can be demonstrated that standards in (i) and (ii) above cannot be achieved by the provision of natural ventilation then it must be demonstrated that they can be achieved with windows shut and how an alternative form of mechanical ventilation will be provided to effectively deal with the summer overheating requirements for each domestic living room and bedroom.

No dwelling hereby permitted shall be occupied until the approved scheme has been implemented in respect of that dwelling.

 

REASON: In the interests of residential amenity by ensuring an acceptable noise level for future occupants and in accordance with policies CH3 and ENV11 of the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2015 - 2030.

 

27.       The Fibre to the Premises proposal to provide superfast broadband for all dwellings within the development (set out in the Openreach letter dated 17 May 2018) and the Integrated Television Reception System (set out in the email from Buxton Building Contractors dated 21 June 2018) to provide combined television reception facilities for all dwellings with the development shall be fully implemented and made operational for each flat hereby approved prior to its first occupation unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

 

REASON: In the interests of visual amenity, to help reduce social exclusion and to allow good access to services in accordance with policies CH3 and IN2 of the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2015-2030.

 

 

Pre Commencement Conditions

 

In terms of conditions 4, 6 and 27 as amended above, these still took the form of pre commencement conditions.  Conditions 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 and 17 as set out in the report, were also pre commencement conditions.  Should this application be approved, and to assist Officers to expedite these conditions to their agreed / final form if the required details were submitted before the Section 106 agreement was signed, the Committee was requested to grant delegated authority to the Head of Economic and Environmental Services to change those conditions where necessary.

 

Amendment to Paragraph 5.37 of the report

 

Whilst Paragraph 5.37 of the report states that “The scheme is further enhanced through the proposed use of a PV array” the Committee was advised that this had been proposed in terms of the previous scheme submitted, and not in the current application.

 

 

The Committee then considered the application.  In response to issues raised, the Principal Planning Officer:

 

·         Emphasised that the proposed building was similar to the previously approved scheme, but with an added social benefit in that it was proposed to be a wholly affordable housing scheme.

·         Explained that the application proposed a communal gas-fired Combined Heat and Power plant to serve the development, instead of the individual gas boilers previously specified.  The communal system would provide heating, hot water and electricity more efficiently and did, without PV panels, address local sustainability policy.

·         Explained further that there were fairly advanced proposals, and a current undetermined planning application, for a District Heating Network in close proximity to the site.  

·         Advised that the Sustainability Statement confirmed that “the infrastructure for future connection to the energy centre is to be provided.”  Further details could be secured by condition to ensure that integration with the District Heat Network took place once the system became operational.

·         Confirmed that Officers had raised concern that revisions to the previously approved design had served to reduce the design quality of the scheme and its appreciation of Crawley’s character.  The Applicant had been asked to consider Officers’ comments and seek to improve the appearance and visual interest of this potentially very prominent building.

·         Advised that the condition 4, as amended, sought to address this design matter.

·         The Environmental Health Team had not raised any concerns, including fumes emanating therefrom, regarding the College Boiler House chimney on the adjoining site.

·         Indicated that it was usual to record a date for the deadline of completion of a Section 106 Agreement.

·         Emphasised that an 8 storey building had already been approved as part of the previous application for this site.

·         Indicated that:

(a)  The Boiler House chimney was 25 metres away from the nearest proposed flat.

(b)  The pedestrian crossing in Northgate Avenue was a distance of 50 metres from the proposed lay-by.

·         Confirmed that in terms of the proposals generally, the Highways Authority had no objections.

·         Advised that the matter of BREEAM rating is considered in Paragraphs 5.36 to 5.40 of the report.

·         Confirmed that whilst it was a Crawley Borough Council owned site, the Council was not the Applicant.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.         Permit, subject to:

 

(i)      The conclusion of a Section 106 Agreement to secure the infrastructure contributions and provisions set out in paragraph 6.2 of report PES/282 (C). However, in the event that the Section 106 Agreement is not completed by 2 January 2019 and unless there are exceptional reasons for the delay agreed in writing with the Applicant, the Head of Economic and Environmental Services be authorised to refuse planning permission for the following reason:

 

An agreement is not in place to ensure the appropriate infrastructure provisions to support the development, and the development is therefore contrary to Policies IN1, CH6 and H4 of the Crawley Borough Council Local Plan 2015-2030 and the Green Infrastructure SPD.

 

(ii)        The amended conditions above.

 

(iii)       The conditions set out in report PES/282 (C).

 

2.         That in terms of the pre commencement conditions 4, 6 and 27 as amended above, and the pre commencement conditions 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 and 17 as set out in the report, the Head of Economic and Environmental Services be granted delegated authority to change those conditions where necessary to their agreed / final form if appropriate details were submitted prior to the Section 106 agreement being signed.