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Agenda item

Planning Application CR/2016/0083/ARM - Phase 2C, Forge Wood (North East Sector), Crawley

To consider report PES/289 (a)of the Head of Economy and Planning.

 

RECOMMENDATION to APPROVE.

Minutes:

The Committee considered report PES/289 (a) of the Head of Economy and Planning which proposed as follows:

 

Approval of reserved matters for Phase 2c for the erection of 249 dwellings, car parking including garages, internal access roads, footpaths, parking and circulation area, hard and soft landscaping and other associated infrastructure and engineering works (revised description and amended plans received).

 

Councillors Stone and Sudan declared they had visited the site.

 

The Principal Planning Officer (VC) provided a verbal summation of the application.

The Officer advised that the application had been the subject of a number of substantial revisions since its initial submission, and relevant re-consultation had taken place.  Although the report reflected comments received from a good number of consultees, it had not been possible to conclude this process prior to the report’s publication.  With this in mind, and with some rewording or additional Conditions involved, the Committee received updates as follows:-

 

·         Updated amended plans / drawings for soft landscaping now reflected the comments of GALAerodrome Safeguarding in seeking to mitigate bird hazard and avoid endangering the safe movements off aircraft and the operation of Gatwick Airport through the attraction of birds.  A condition was recommended to cover this aspect.

·         WSCC have commented that the principle of the proposed layout for carriageways and footways was acceptable.  In relation to surfacing materials and detailing, WSCC have further commented that these were acceptable in principle, and that these and other detailed constructional matters would all be dealt with as part of the adoption agreement process for highways.  WSCC have confirmed that The Parking Strategy Statement as submitted reflected the standards set out in the Urban Design SPD.  In terms of the suggested parking condition, this had already been approved as part the outline planning permission.

·         The matter of cycle storage had been the subject of a number of discussions regarding the number of spaces, design and location of the cycle stores. Revised plans had recently been submitted, and the Crawley Cycle and Walking Forum had since agreed that cycle storage would be best dealt with by condition.

·         Comments by the CBC Refuse and Recycling Team regarding capacity of storage and layout points had since been addressed.  A request for dropped kerbs for easier access purposes was now covered by condition (Condition 5).

·         It was confirmed that Condition 5, which applied to both bin and cycle storage, would remain as currently drafted.

·         In terms of surface water drainage, the Crawley Borough Council’s Drainage Officer had confirmed that amended details and calculations were acceptable.

·         Further comments had been received on behalf of the Crawley Goods Yard Operators which, as requested in those comments, was read out to the Committee.  Those comments referred in particular to the Section 106 Agreement, including that: “The application is only considered acceptable if it is approved with all conditions as proposed and critically subject to the S106 Agreement the terms of which are detailed in brief in the Committee Report. 

·         With further regard to noise mitigation, discussions on the Section 106 Agreement were now well advanced.  The Agreement would ensure that mitigation blocks (the employment building and flat barrier) were completed prior to the occupation of dwellings affected by noise from the railway and the Crawley Goods Yard.

·         The Principal Planning Officer further clarified Paragraph 6.5 of the report by emphasising that with the exception of some specific dwellings in the north-east corner of Phase 2C (due to their distance from the railway and Crawley Goods Yard), the Section 106 Agreement would apply to all dwellings both in Phase 2C and Phase 2B.  The Section 106 Agreement would reflect this detailed position, and the Crawley Goods Yard had been advised accordingly.

·         With regard to paragraph 5.16 of the report, a condition to require the submission of the architectural details of the Juliette balconies was no longer required as the appropriate details had now been received.

·         Updated conditions to reflect revised plan / drawing numbers are as set below (in italics):-

 

Condition 7       tree protection

 

No development, including site works of any description shall take place on the site unless and until all the trees/bushes/hedges to be retained on the site have been protected in accordance with the Tree Protection Plan 7827KC/Ph2C/YTREE/TPP01 Rev C and in accordance with measures in the submitted Arboricultural Impact Assessment ref 7827/KC/XX/YTREE/Rev A. Within the areas thereby fenced off the existing ground level shall be neither raised nor lowered and no materials, temporary buildings, plant machinery or surplus soil shall be placed or stored thereon without the prior written approval of the Local Planning Authority. If any trenches for services are required in the fenced off areas they shall be excavated and backfilled by hand and any roots with a diameter of 25mm or more shall be left un-severed

REASON: To ensure the retention and maintenance of trees and vegetation which is an important feature of the area in accordance with Policy CH3 of the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2015-2030.

 

Condition 9     soft landscaping

 

All landscaping works shall be carried out in accordance with the approved soft landscaping specification scheme (667/204 Rev G; 667/205 Rev G; 667/206 Rev G).  No alterations to the approved landscaping scheme are to take place unless submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

REASON: In the interests of visual amenity and because the scheme has been designed to mitigate bird hazard and avoid endangering the safe movements off aircraft and the operation of Gatwick Airport through the attraction of birds.

 

Condition 10   hard landscaping

 

The hard landscaping works shall be carried out in accordance with the approved hard landscaping details shown on plans 667/207 Rev H; 667/208 Rev H; 667/209 Rev H. No alterations to these landscaping details are to take place unless submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

REASON: In the interests of amenity and of the environment of the development in the accordance with Policy CH3 of the Crawley Borough Local Plan 2015-2030.

 

Laura Humphries (the Agent for the application) addressed the meeting in support of the application.

 

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

 

·         Confirmed that the garden sizes for some houses were not fully in accordance with the outdoor space standards, with the largest number of those dwellings being affordable. However, this application had been the subject of various revisions, which each time included further improvements made to the sizes and shapes of the gardens, and in particular to those of the affordable housing units. As a result the garden sizes had significantly improved from the original submission.

·         Emphasised that in terms of seeking to reach 100% compliance with garden sizes for dwellings generally, there were particular constraints that applied to this site, such as the need to set dwellings away from the railway line and Goods Yard (for noise mitigation purposes), which meant that it had not been possible to achieve further revisions.

·         Considered that overall when assessing the application as a whole, and having regard to the delivery of the neighbourhood as a package, the significant areas of open space and landscaping, and alsotaking into account that garden sizes were set out as guidance not policy, it was felt that the development would have an appropriate level of amenity space generally.

·         Confirmed that the reference in the report to a two runway airport related to the safeguarding position and the area of land where in principle dwellings would be unacceptable due to future aircraft noise levels.  The application site did not lie within this area, so dwellings here were acceptable in principle but noise mitigation was required.

·         Explained that the report’s use of the word “discount” when referring to some of the proposed affordable dwellings, was a reference to those units that would be offered for shared ownership at a discounted rate.

·         Indicated that the Highways Authority would be adopting the majority of roads within the site, including some cul de sacs, and that this would be dealt with as part of the highways adoption agreement process, as would matters in relation to surfacing materials.

·         Reiterated that in terms of surface water drainage, the Crawley Borough Council’s Drainage Officer had confirmed that he was satisfied with the amended details and calculations.

·         Confirmed that whilst the Environmental Health Officer had made comments suggesting the need for sealed windows to open living spaces that overlooked the railway line and Crawley Goods Yard, subsequent changes in layout had meant that there were now no such rooms that overlooked the railway line and Yard areas. There were windows to the communal staircases, hallways and some bathrooms that overlooked the railway line and Yard premises but as these were not living spaces they could be openable windows.

 

The Committee continued to consider the application information. 

   

RESOLVED

 

Approve, subject to:

 

(i)            The completion of a Section 106 Agreement as referred to in paragraph 6.5 of report PES/289 (a) and as clarified above.

(ii)           The imposition of the conditions and informatives as set out in that report, and the updated conditions above.

Supporting documents: