Agenda item

Report No: DEV/FH/16/023

Planning Application DC/16/1131/FUL - (i) 2no buildings to include 11no. apartments and 1no. Office unit (following demolition of existing building) (ii) Freestanding bicycle/bin store.

Planning Application DC/16/1131/FUL - (i) 2no buildings to include 11no. apartments and 1no. Office unit (following demolition of existing building) (ii) Freestanding bicycle/bin store.

This application had been referred to the Development Control Committee because it was a major development and Newmarket Town Council had objected to the development which was contrary to the Officer recommendation.

A Member site visit had been held prior to the meeting.  Officers were recommending that the application be approved as set out in Paragraph 45 of Report No DEV/FH/16/023.

The Senior Planning Officer explained that the site already had planning permission achieved in February 2016 for 10 apartments.  For the benefit of the Committee she outlined the changes made to the scheme in the application before them.

Whilst some Members spoke in support of the application (including Councillor Andrew Appleby, the Ward Member), Councillor Carol Lynch voiced concern at the loss of a prestigious large house in Newmarket.

Councillor Brian Harvey raised a query concerning the trees on the site.  The Officer explained that as the site was within a Conservation Area all the trees were automatically protected.

It was moved by Councillor Appleby that the application be approved, as per the Officer recommendation, and this was duly seconded by Councillor Louis Busuttil.

With 8 voting for the motion and with 4 against, it was resolved that

Planning permission be GRANTED subject to the following conditions:

1.   The development hereby permitted shall be begun not later than 3 years from the date of this permission.

2.   Prior to development above ground level, samples of the proposed external materials have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

3.   Prior to development above ground level, details of the windows to be used (including details of glazing bars, sills, heads and methods of opening and glazing) shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. Unless otherwise agreed with the Local Planning Authority the details shall be in the form of elevations drawn to a scale of not less than 1:10 and horizontal and vertical cross-section drawings to a scale of 1:2 fully detailing the replacement windows. Unless otherwise approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority all glazing shall be face puttied. The works shall be carried out in complete accordance with the approved details.

4.   No part of the development shall be commenced until details of the proposed access (including the position of any gates to be erected and visibility splays provided) have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The approved access shall be laid out and constructed in its entirety prior to first occupation of the property.

Thereafter the access shall be retained in its approved form.

5.   The areas to be provided for storage of Refuse/Recycling bins as shown on drawing number 15.556 P 01 F shall be provided in its entirety before the development is brought into use and shall be retained thereafter for no other purpose.

6.   Before the development is commenced details shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority showing the means to prevent the discharge of surface water from the development onto the highway. The approved scheme shall be carried out in its entirety before the access is first used and shall be retained thereafter in its approved form.

7.   The use shall not commence until the area(s) within the site shown on drawing number 15.556 P01 F for the purposes of [LOADING, UNLOADING,] manoeuvring and parking of vehicles and storage of cycles has been provided and thereafter that area(s) shall be retained and used for no other purposes.

8.   Prior to commencement of development a construction management plan including a scheme for the mitigation of possible nuisance caused by dust, shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

9.   No security lights or floodlights shall be erected on site without the submission of details to, and written approval from, the Local Planning Authority to ensure a lighting environment of low district brightness at residential properties.

10.        No development above ground level shall commence until full details of a hard landscaping scheme for the site has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. These details shall include proposed finished levels and contours showing earthworks and mounding; surfacing materials; means of enclosure; car parking layouts; other vehicle and pedestrian access and circulations areas; hard surfacing materials; minor artefacts and structures (for example furniture, play equipment, refuse and/or other storage units, signs, lighting and similar features); proposed and existing functional services above and below ground (for example drainage, power, communications cables and pipelines, indicating lines, manholes, supports and other technical features); retained historic landscape features and proposals for restoration where relevant. The scheme shall be implemented prior to the occupation of any part of the development (or within such extended period as may first be agreed in writing with the Local Planning Authority).

11.        No development above ground level shall commence until there has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority a scheme of soft landscaping for the site drawn to a scale of not less than 1:200. The soft landscaping details shall include planting plans; written specifications (including cultivation and other operations associated with plant and grass establishment); schedules of plants noting species, plant sizes and proposed numbers/ densities. The approved scheme of soft landscaping works shall be implemented not later than the first planting season following commencement of the development (or within such extended period as may first be agreed in writing with the Local Planning Authority). Any planting removed, dying or becoming seriously damaged or diseased within five years of planting shall be replaced within the first available planting season thereafter with planting of similar size and species unless the Local Planning Authority gives written consent for any variation.

12.        The trees shown on the approved landscaping scheme to be retained shall be protected in the manner shown on plan no. TIP19 244 or shall be fenced as described below, (and the Local Planning Authority shall be advised in writing that the protective measures/fencing have been provided) before any equipment, machinery or materials are brought onto the site for the purposes of development and shall continue to be so protected during the period of construction and until all equipment, machinery and surplus materials have been removed from the site.

Where possible the fencing shall be erected outside the 'Root Protection Area' (RPA) defined by a radius of dbh x 12 where dbh is the diameter of the trunk measured at a height of 1.5m above ground level  and shall consist of robust wooden stakes connected by robust wooden cross members to a height of not less than 1.2 metres.  Where fencing can not be erected outside the RPA an arboricultural method statement shall be submitted and approved in writing in accordance with the relevant condition. Within the fenced area no work shall take place; no materials shall be stored; no oil or other chemicals shall be stored or disposed of; no concrete, mortar or plaster shall be mixed; no fires shall be started; no service trenches shall be dug; no soil shall be removed or ground level changed at any time, without the prior written consent of the Local Planning Authority.

13.        No development shall be commenced until details of the treatment of the boundary of the site have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The details shall specify the siting, design, height and materials of the screen walls/fences to be constructed or erected. The approved screen walling and/or fencing shall be constructed or erected before the buildings; to which it relates is first occupied.

14.        Details of any ventilation systems, to include any proposed noise attenuation, to be submitted to and approved by the local planning authority and installed prior to their use commencing.

15.        No individual dwelling hereby approved shall be occupied until the optional requirement for water consumption (110 litres use per person per day) in Part G of the Building Regulations has been complied with for that dwelling.

16.        The development hereby permitted shall not be carried out except in complete accordance with the details shown on the approved plans and documents.

Speaker:      Mr Philip Kratz (Agent) spoke in support of the application.