Agenda item

Outline Planning with all matters reserved, except for the vehicular accesses onto Station Road, for the demolition of a single dwelling and associated buildings and development of up to 107 dwellings (including affordable housing) and employment/ community/ cafe/ development together with parking areas, landscaping and all associated infrastructure.

By affirmation, the Planning Committee granted delegated authority to officers to grant outline planning permission, subject to:

(a)  The planning conditions set out in the report from the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development, with final wording of any amendments to these to be agreed with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Planning Committee prior to the issuing of planning permission; and

(b)   The prior completion of a Section 106 Agreement.

The Principal Planning Officer (Strategic Sites) presented the report and informed the Committee that he would expand on the Summary Heads of Terms included in the report to provide clarity on how the figures were derived. The applicant’s agent, Peter McKeown, addressed the meeting. The agent was asked by Members to provide examples of changes resulting from consultations with the Town and Parish Councils. The agent highlighted changes to the drainage scheme, access to the guided busway and vehicular access to the Station Road entrance to the development that were a result of consultation with local parties. In response to another question, the agent informed the Committee that the four-storey building on the site was introduced, mainly for design reasons but also to provide accommodation, in response to consultations with the Cambridgeshire Quality Panel and South Cambridgeshire District Council Planning. The Committee was also informed by the agent that the parameter plans and illustrative master plan had been changed significantly after the consultations with the Quality Panel.

There was significant debate over the four-storey landmark building, with Members stating that a landmark building does not need to be a large building in the corner of a development and they expressed a general desire for developers to consider other ways of introducing landmark buildings to developments. Concerns were raised over the design of the landmark building, but the Committee was reminded by the Chair and the Delivery Manager that design was not part of the Outline Planning application and would be dealt with at the Reserved Matters stage. Members also expressed concerns over the height of the building and questioned if it would in keeping with the character of the surrounding area. The Principal Planning Officer informed the Committee that there would be no buildings of similar height in the immediate vicinity, but noted that four-storey buildings would likely be introduced in later Phases of the Northstowe Development and the Delivery Manager noted that the development was in close proximity to the enterprise zone, a dense area of development, and therefore the building in question would likely be in keeping with the character of the area when further developments were completed. The Senior Planning Lawyer advised the Committee that, if the application was approved, the parameter plans would make it difficult to reject a Reserved Matters application on the basis of the height of the four-storey building.

Concerns were raised over junction traffic flow modelling, with desires to prioritise pedestrians over cars noted, and the fact that some traffic was modelled as overcapacity. The Delivery Manager noted that pedestrians were not being discouraged from using crossing points and the vehicular traffic light cycle was based off the assumption that there would not necessarily be pedestrians waiting to cross at every cycle and, by not having to wait for pedestrian crossings every time the lights changed, the proposed cycle would reduce congestion somewhat. The Delivery Manager also stated that, whilst modelling was still overcapacity at the AM peak, changes to the scheme had reduced the Degree of Saturation.

Comments were offered on archaeological, drainage and biodiversity issues. Condition 10 was highlighted by the Principal Planning Officer to alleviate concerns over archaeology and any potential finds onsite. In order to mitigate potentially significant drainage issues down the line, a request was made for the provision of a statement detailing how the development would ensure that it meets the drainage capacity of the site. The potential off-siting of the Scheme(s) to meet the 10% biodiversity net gain requirements was scrutinised and it was questioned if the developers could respond to potential future change to policy requirements on biodiversity net gains. The Delivery Manager stated that developers were only obliged to meet the legislative requirements in place at the time of the application and could only be encouraged to go beyond this, and also informed the Committee that in, the first instance, biodiversity net gain options would be sought on-site and off-site options would only be explored if there were no suitable on-site measures available. The Delivery Manager acknowledged the desire for off-site measures to be as close to the site as possible but noted that it could not be dealt with at the Outline Planning application stage.

The Senior Planning Lawyer requested that the Committee confirmed that they were happy with the details of the Tariff Base and that it could be dealt with by the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development, and requested that they endorse that the indexation of any Section 106 agreement payments run from the date of resolution. The Delivery Manager clarified these requests and the Committee agreed to them.

By affirmation, the Planning Committee granted delegated authority to officers to grant outline planning permission, subject to:

(a)  The planning conditions set out in the report from the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development, with final wording of any amendments to these to be agreed with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Planning Committee prior to the issuing of planning permission; and

(b)   The prior completion of a Section 106 Agreement.