Decision details

The Committee received an application for full planning permission.

The application sought approval for a single storey extension to the existing Dining Room.

The Committee received representations in objection to the application from two resident associations.

The representations covered the following issues:

       i.          Expressed specific concern about:

·       Noise from student activities eg late night discos.

·       The size of events that could be hosted on-site and knock on effect of noise.

·       Students needed to be supervised. Contact details where concerns could be reported to the College were only recently made available.

     ii.          Cats College was sometimes used as a language school although it was not given permission to do this. Asked for the application to be deferred until this issue was resolved.

Mr Tomalin (Applicant’s Representative) addressed the Committee in support of the application.

Councillor Sarris (East Chesterton Ward Councillor) addressed the Committee about the application.

The representation covered the following issues:

       i.          Expressed concern about the impact of the development on neighbours’ amenities.

     ii.          There were complaints overhanging the application.

   iii.          Referred to paragraph 8.12 of the Officer’s report that noted “The dining room extension would be fully glazed which from a practical perspective is one of the poorest materials in terms of noise insulation. The proposed extension would be projecting closer to the properties on the opposite side of the road to the south and south-east.” Noise mitigation measures would be insufficient.

   iv.          Asked the Committee to note that Cats College had not complied with the s106 agreement regarding site usage, which could impact on their planning application. Requested the proposal be deferred until the s106 issue had been resolved then the application be resubmitted with better acoustic suppression measures.

The Committee:

Resolved (by 6 votes to 1) to reject the officer recommendation to approve the application.

Resolved (by 6 votes to 1) to refuse the application contrary to the officer recommendation for the following reason:

The dining room extension will increase the amount of useable floorspace within the building. This has the potential to intensify the general level of activity taking place within the building and the external areas within the site which cannot be adequately mitigated by the use of appropriate materials or conditions of use. This will result in an unacceptable increase in the level of noise and general disturbance experienced by residents of nearby dwellings at Chesterton Road and Laburnum Close particularly through the use of their rear gardens. As such, the proposal will result in an unacceptable impact on the amenity of the residents of these dwellings and is contrary to Policy 4/13 of the Cambridge Local Plan 2006.”