Issue - items at meetings - Site of Former St Felix School, Newmarket: Development Brief

Issue - meetings

Site of Former St Felix School, Newmarket: Development Brief

Meeting: 15/03/2022 - Cabinet (Item 340)

340 Former St Felix School Site, Newmarket - Development Brief pdf icon PDF 159 KB

Report number:     CAB/WS/22/013

Portfolio holder: Councillor David Roach

Lead officer: Gary Hancox

Additional documents:

Decision:

Resolved:

 

That:

1.           The landowner to begin a six-week formal public consultation process on the draft St Felix Development Brief.

 

2.           The possible future options for a sports facility (as set out in Part 2 of the Development Brief) be noted.

Minutes:

(Report number CAB/WS/22/013)

 

The Cabinet considered this report which set out the draft Development Brief for the former St Felix School site in Newmarket.

 

Councillor David Roach, Portfolio Holder for Planning, drew relevant issues to the attention of the Cabinet and explained that the site was allocated within the Site Allocations Local Plan (SALP) under Policy SA6(d) which was adopted in September 2019.  This site was known in the SALP as the ‘Former St Felix Middle School Site’.  The site extended to 4.5 hectares and comprised the footprint of the former school, outbuildings, sports pitches, courts and playing fields.  The site was allocated in its entirety, although the suggested capacity (50 dwellings) reflected the retention of the open space and existing tennis courts.

 

Suffolk County Council, as landowners of the site, had prepared a draft Development Brief (as set out in Appendices A to C of Report number CAB/WS/22/013) that sought to provide planning and design guidance for the development of the former middle school.

 

The Development Brief provided a design framework aligned with the adopted Local Plan and would guide the preparation and determination of future planning applications for this site.  However, this document was not designed to be prescriptive.  It was intended to guide the effective delivery of SALP Policy SA6d.  The Cabinet also noted that an element of the draft Development Brief relocated within the existing tennis courts within the site and this was considered to be contrary to the requirements of the policy allocation.  Provided that the relocated tennis courts resulted in an improved facility, then Officers agreed that there was merit in this approach.

 

Once approved and adopted as informal Planning Guidance, the Development Brief would constitute a material consideration in the determination of future planning applications and should also be read in conjunction with the policies of the adopted West Suffolk Local Plan.  Therefore, the Cabinet was being asked to recommend that the draft Development Brief now proceeded to a six-week period of public consultation.

 

Councillor Sarah Broughton endorsed the Development Brief proceeding to a period of public consultation by Suffolk County Council.  In addition, Councillor Broughton hoped that this Development Brief would provide Suffolk County Council with the opportunity to reinstate a sports hall for Newmarket, to replace the one which had been previously demolished on the Scaltback School site.

 

Resolved:

 

That:

1.           The landowner to begin a six-week formal public consultation process on the draft St Felix Development Brief.

 

2.           The possible future options for a sports facility (as set out in Part 2 of the Development Brief) be noted.


 

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