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 Councillors Stokes and Lane.

Councillor Ash was in attendance as a substitute.

At this point Members must declare whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other interest, in any of the items on the agenda, unless it is already entered in the register of members’ interests or is a “pending notification “ that has been disclosed to the Solicitor to the Council.

Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

         There were no declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of intention from any Member of the Committee to make representation as Ward Councillor on any item within the agenda.

         The minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2012 were agreed as true and        accurate record.

The application site was approximately 1.72 ha in size and was comprised of a number of former industrial buildings which were mainly brick built and included a former dairy, bakery and depot. These were vacant and in a poor state of repair. It appeared that part of the bakery building had been demolished. Hoarding had been erected along the front of the site with Midland Road which covered the original 1.8 metre high brick wall. There was an existing sub station in the north west corner adjacent to Midland Road.

The site was located about half way along Midland Road on the eastern side. This side of the road was generally characterised by industrial and commercial usage although it was not a designated employment area. In contrast, the western side of the road was characterised by residential development and a couple of small local shops.

To the south west was the former Peterborough Hospital site which was subject to redevelopment proposals (policy CC13 of the Adopted Peterborough Local Plan (First Replacement) (2005) refers).

A 1.8 metre high wall ran along the southern boundary of the site with the adjacent car park. The car park extended to the south east of the site, which separated it from the East Coast Mainline Railway. This rear area was currently being used for the storage of machinery and equipment being used for works to the railway. The north east boundary directly adjoined railway land. This eastern (rear) boundary with the site was largely overgrown. To the north of the site was a depot containing more industrial buildings.

The application site was located within the Railway Station Opportunity Area (policy CC12 of the Adopted Peterborough Local Plan (First Replacement) (2005) refers).

This application sought permission for the demolition of the existing industrial buildings and the construction of 90 new dwellings, which was comprised of two, three, and, four bed properties in a mix of houses and flats (the flats would be located adjacent to the railway line). 30% of the houses would be affordable.

The development would be served by a new access off Midland Road (the existing accesses to the site would be closed).

Also included with the development was a new area of public open space (1250 square metres) where it is intended to install play equipment.

The recommendation was to grant planning permission subject to the imposition of conditions, as detailed in the committee report with specified conditions updated, as per the update report and the completion of a S106 Agreement.

The agent, Mr Woolston addressed the Committee and responded to questions from Members. In summary the issues highlighted included: 

·        Mitigation measures had been discussed with BP oil depot regarding concerns raised over noise and light pollution.  A recent test had revealed there was low risk involved for the future in such an ambient area;

·        Given the low test results regarding noise and light pollution risks, the developers would install trickle vents and acoustic fencing as a matter of course; 

·        A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

          The application site was approximately 0.4 hectares and was located on the south side of Queens Dive West.  The site contained a single storey primary school building of the Victorian era built in buff brick under a slate roof.  The building had been extended over the years with more modern elements, which included a school hall to the rear.  The site was compact in nature. To the front of the site there was provision for the parking of twelve vehicles; five spaces were within an area which was accessed from the eastern side of the site frontage and seven spaces within an area accessed from the western side of the site frontage (there was currently a mobile unit located within the parking area providing temporary classrooms). 

          The frontage was bounded by a brick wall approx 0.6m in height and there was a large grassed area with a number of mature trees. 

          To the rear of the site there was a playground area and a small grassed/wildlife area to the south east which also contains mature trees.  The site was enclosed by a brick wall of 2m in height to the side and rear boundaries. 

          The surrounding character was predominantly residential. Queens Drive West had on street parking restrictions; resident permits to the west, limited time parking for thirty minutes on the opposite side of the road, yellow lines to the east and there were ‘School Keep Clear’ zig zag lines directly to the front of the site.  Queens Drive West was subject to a 30mph speed limit with traffic calming in the form of speed cushions.

          The application sought permission for:

a.      a single storey extension to the front of the site to provide two classrooms, a library area and group room.   The extension would be irregular in shape and would be to the eastern side of the school building and would project 13.4m from the front elevation at its most eastern point reducing to a projection of 9m at its western point and would have a width of 22.4m where it would abut the school building reducing to a width of 20.4m at the site frontage.   The height would be 4.3m.  The extension would be located 3m from the eastern shared boundary.  Windows would be positioned within the north, east and west elevations;

b.      a single storey extension to the west of the site to provide a toilet block; the dimensions would be 5.4m x 4.4m.  The extension would have a flat roof and would be 3.5m in height;

c.      alterations to the windows/doors within the existing building, which included substitution of window for door in the west elevation that served the classroom and the addition of a door to three classrooms to the rear of the building. eleven no. car parking spaces would be provided, which would include one disabled parking bay;

d.      the demolition of the dwelling at 6 Queens Drive West to facilitate the development; and

e.      the works would also provide an increase in outdoor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The site was approximately 13.6 ha and was currently occupied by the Thomas Deacon Academy which opened in 2007 and was the former site of Deacons Secondary School.  The site contained an academy building which opened in 2007 and accommodated up to 2200 pupils aged 11 to 19; a caretakers house and Buttery building to the west of the site and a construction centre to the east.  There were a large number of existing sports pitches and playing fields.  The site was enclosed by mature trees/shrubs to the boundaries and there were a number of mature trees within the site. The surrounding context was predominantly residential in character and there were two residential nursing homes located adjacent to the Park Crescent exit.

The current access was from Queens Gardens to the west and egress was through a single lane driveway to Park Crescent to the south of the site.  Both of these access points could be used by pedestrians with additional pedestrian only access points thorough the schools playing fields on Nottingham Way to the north and on Grimshaw Road to the north east.  Servicing vehicles accessed the site from Garton Street to the north. 

There were two parking areas, which provided a total of 348 parking spaces; one area provided 238 staff parking spaces which was controlled by a barrier accessed by a key fob and one parking area provided 79 spaces and was used as a drop off area at the school start and finish times and was used for visitors during the school day.  Cycle parking was also located within the site in the form of a bicycle shed, which provided storage for up to seventy five bicycles this was located between the two car parks near the entrance to the academy.  Emergency vehicle access took place though any existing vehicular access points on Garton Street, Queens Gardens and Park Crescent if necessary.

Coach pick up for pupil travel was accommodated within the site.  Coaches would access the site through the vehicular access points and load at a designated bus stop near to the Academy main entrance.

There were a number of schools located nearby including Queens Drive Infant School, All Saints Church of England Junior School on Dogsthorpe Road and Peterborough Regional College to the east of the site on Park Crescent.

It was also important to note that:

·         School times would be staggered, which was anticipated to mitigate the impact of the increase in traffic over peak times;

·         The widening of the exit lane towards Park Crescent and Park Road would not cause an issue with the impact of traffic; and

·         The progress of the site development would not be held up if the junction widening was not achievable.

The application sought approval for the following:

·  Junior Academy:  A two storey junior academy building to be located to the west of the site and on an area currently used as tennis courts.  The footprint of the building would be 58.5  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The application site formed an area of landscaping (15 metres x 70 metres) in front of Heltwate Primary School, and was identified as such within the Peterborough Open Space Strategy (2010). The site was not suitable for play and was more of a landscaped area. To the north, east and south were high density residential and flats, with the Masonic Hall to the South-West. The site formed the centre of what was effectively a circulation route for the school, with parking and a drop off/pick up area to the west. The site was open with no boundary treatments. There were a number of healthy trees on site, none of which were protected by way of tree preservation orders.

The Applicant sought consent to erect a 2 metre high Paladin Classic fence and two gates, finished in green (RAL6005). This would incorporate the informal amenity space and pick up/drop off area into the school grounds.

The application had been made in order to ensure the safety and security of the school and its pupils with special needs.

The application was deferred at the 18 December 2012 meeting of the PEP Committee so that the Committee could gain a better understanding of why the fence was needed and why it had to be located in the position shown.

Officer recommendation was to grant planning permission, with conditions, subject to no objection being received which raised a material planning consideration. 

Ms Anita Fellows and Mr Alistair Osborn, addressed the Committee in objection to the planning application and responded to questions from Members.  In summary the concerns highlighted to the Committee included:

.

·         The Ellingdon area appeared to be experiencing a reduction in services due to development in the area, with the removal of amenities such as play grounds, paddling pool and various other open spaces that children in the area would play on;

·         Further development in the area was planned, which would result in the loss of further open space relied upon for children’s play areas;

·         The Heltwate School open land had been used by the community for twenty two years;

·         Disputes were made towards the school’s claim about the Heltwate School open area being covered in dog foul, needles and broken bottles;

·         Parents in the area would not allow their children to play on the school’s open area that was unsafe;

·         Many different ethnic community groups should be supported by being able to access open area near Heltwate School rather than be segregated to their own community groups;

·         Concerns raised over losing an open area would create an increase in child obesity;

·         The school already had enclosed play areas;

·         The football pitch that was close by was not for community use;

·         Installation of gates on the open area at Heltwate School would cause a traffic build up issue;

·         Installation of the fence and gates on Heltwate School would separate the whole area as well as cause parking issue; and

·         The school was closely monitored by CCTV which had often failed to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.