Council and democracy
Home > Council and Democracy > Decision details
Decision Maker: Planning
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
The Committee received an application for
full planning permission.
The application sought approval for mixed
use development comprising ground floor retail (use Class A1), with non-speculative
student accommodation scheme of 26No. bedrooms on the upper floors to be
occupied by Abbey College, along with car and cycle parking, following
demolition of existing buildings on site.
The Committee received a representation in
objection to the application from a resident of Cambridge Place.
The representation covered the following concerns:
i.
Referred to speaking notes and
photos tabled at committee.
ii.
The application failed to provide adequate
off-street parking as per Local Plan Policy 3/7.
iii.
Vans could not use the covered
parking area as the roof would be too low.
iv.
Vehicles would find it difficult
to access the parking area and would block the street when entering/leaving it.
This would lead to a conflict between traffic and pedestrians.
v.
The development would need a lot
of maintenance, leading to lots of service vehicle trips and therefore parking
space issues.
vi.
The application did not meet
Highways Authority visibility splay requirements.
vii.
Referred to Local Plan Policy 8/9
regarding Commercial Vehicles and Servicing.
Mr McKeown (Applicant’s Agent) addressed the
Committee in support of the application.
Councillor Walsh
(Petersfield Ward County Councillor) addressed the Committee about the
application.
The representation covered the following concerns:
i.
Thanked the Agent for making some amendments in
response to resident’s comments, but some changes were
still required.
ii.
Referred to Local Plan Policies 3/7 and 8/9.
iii.
Cambridge Place is a narrow one vehicle wide access
road off an arterial route.
iv.
The new development would take away a waiting area
to provide a parking space.
v.
Medium and large vehicles would have difficulty
accessing Cambridge Place, causing traffic flow issues.
vi.
Referred to Highways Officer comments and suggested
these reflected the current situation rather than a future one with the
application in place.
The Committee:
Unanimously resolved to reject the officer recommendation to
approve the application.
Unanimously
resolved to refuse the
application contrary to the officer recommendation for the following reasons:
The use of the proposed parking area would require significant
manoeuvring of vehicles within Cambridge Place and the visibility splay is
restricted. This would be likely to
compromise the safety of users of Cambridge Place,
therefore the development is contrary to policy 8/9 of the Cambridge Local Plan
2006.
The proposed development would result in a poor entrance for future
occupants in terms of conflict with servicing vehicles and in terms of the lack
of a legible, safe and attractive entrance and would therefore be contrary to
Cambridge Local Plan (2006) policies 3/4, 3/7 and 3/12.
Report author: Michael Hammond
Publication date: 22/03/2016
Date of decision: 02/03/2016
Decided at meeting: 02/03/2016 - Planning
Accompanying Documents: