Agenda and minutes

Any information received after the agenda has been published, relevant to the applications on the agenda to be considered by the Committee will be published here.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Thacker.

Cllr Lane declared a personal and prejudicial interest in item 6a and withdrew for the item.

The minutes of the meeting held 18 November 2008 were agreed subject to the alteration of the declaration made by Cllr Burton to refer to the tennis club instead of the citizens group.  

The minutes of the meeting held 16 December 2008 were agreed subject to the alteration of the declaration made by Cllr Burton to refer to his late wife’s mother instead of late wife. .  

The committee received an application for consideration which proposed the demolition of a number of the existing buildings including the supermarket (2845.5 sq.m), some of the retail units, the petrol filling station and the public house.

Permission was sought for the construction of a new supermarket comprising some 7014 square metres gross floor space on the western part of the site, a new public house with a floor area of 395 square metres and a new retail unit comprising 237 square metres of floorspace. The new unit and the public house would be located adjacent to Goodwin Walk off which the service access is proposed. A group of retail units to the south side of the site would be retained.

The proposed store would have a maximum depth of 80 metres, a width of 95 metres and maximum height of approximately 10 metres. The section of the building adjacent to Goodwin Walk would have a length of 65 metres.

In connection with these works alterations are proposed to the layout of the main car park and the car parking areas for Sundance and Olympus Houses. This would result in an overall on site increase in the available car parking provision to 673 spaces. The alterations would include the consolidation of the retail parking element into one area comprising 537 spaces (an increase of 187 spaces), a 45 space car park for Sundance House (a reduction of 4 spaces) and a 65 space Olympus House car park (an increase of 21 spaces).  Access to the car park and these office buildings would continue to be from Staniland Way. The 26 bay element will be retained. In addition 8 motorcycle spaces and 104 cycle spaces would be provided.

The bus lay-by on the eastern side of the site would be removed with new bus stops incorporating real time information and a zebra crossing provided on Goodwin Walk.

The committee received representations from the Ward Councillors, representatives of the Neighbourhood Council and a member of the public. The concerns covered;

• Scale of development in relation to the area and other district centres
• Continued public access to the car parking and skate boarding.
• Noise pollutions and associated issues with the service yard
• Narrow road access to the site and other traffic management issues in the vicinity to the site.
• Issues with access to the public house
• Loss of local District Centre identity
• Design of building.

The applicant also addressed the committee and addressed concerns that were raised by members.

Resolved (8 for, 0 against, 1 not voting)to authorise the Head of Planning Services to grant planning permission subject to;

a)     Conditions as outlined in the committee report 

b)     To all service yard activities ceasing by 10pm

c)      Car park to remain available beyond five years if the 100 new spaces have not been provided.

d)     The conditions in relation to the roundabout are altered to include demolition as well as construction.

Reasons for the decision

Subject to the imposition of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6a

The interim Head of Planning Services introduced the report and sought approval from the committee for the creation of a Design Review Panel.

Members supported some elements of the proposals however highlighted a significant number of concerns. These included;

• The need to involve local ward councillors at an early stage in the process. Members also expressed concerns regarding the proposed lack of member involvement in the structure. It was noted that there were other opportunities for members including PEP members to be involved in early planning discussions.
• The size of panel was suggested to be too big, however it was clarified that in normal circumstances a panel would be made up of only some members of the overall members on the panel.
• The need to involve other key departments in the discussions, particular emphasis was given to the involvement of Highways Officers.
• Objection to just the Chairman receiving an honorarium, particularly if the panel was going to meeting in smaller groups for each item.
• That the proposed structure was overly formal.
• The need to carefully manage the expectations of developers in order to avoid the assumption that reviewed applications will be automatically approved by PEP.
• The need for greater transparency, and a unique solution for Peterborough

Following discussion it was agreed that a revised version of the report would be presented to a future committee for approval.