Issue - meetings

The Committee received an application under Section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to vary Condition 20 (EV charging plan) and Condition 38(approved plans) and remove condition 36 (wayfinding signage) pursuant to S/4478/17(Erection of building comprising office B1 (a) floorspace and ancillary ground floor retail (A1/A3) floorspace, a cycle storage pavilion, associated landscaping, access and a 125 space car park).

The Committee made the following comments in response to the report.

     i.        Queried the re-design of roof and canopy, including provision of parapet above canopy; would this would bring additional height to the building.

    ii.        Suggested additional tree planting to the north of the development to ensure that the exact number of trees removed were replaced.

   iii.        Regretted the loss of a tree on Station Square.

  iv.        Enquired when the Electric Vehicle charging points would be installed.

   v.        Requested further clarification on the s38 agreement.

  vi.        Asked for further information on the fire strategy.

 vii.        Questioned how the wayfinding signage would be delivered.

In response to Members’ questions the Principal Planner said the following:

     i.        There was a slight reconfiguration of the roof and canopy; the use of the word re-design gave a different meaning to what was being proposed when in fact the changes were minimal and there would be no additional height.

    ii.        There would be a net loss of one tree on the development, but the landscape condition would allow further discussion on this issue through the discharge. 

   iii.        The car parking management plan stated that prior to 01 August 2028, a permanent cark park should be implemented; this would include the EV charging points.

  iv.        The fire strategy would be controlled by the building regulations.

In response to Members’ questions the Associate Director said the following:

     i.        The proposals of the EV charging points had been assessed supported by Environment Health Officers; therefore it was difficult within the policy framework to go against the technical advice which they provided.

    ii.        In the original application there had been some duplication between the s106 and the conditions imposed on the planning permission. After a review undertaken by officers and the applicant, it had been agreed the wayfinding signage is secured under the s106 agreement.

Michael Derbyshire (Applicant’s Agent) addressed the Committee in support of the application.

At the request of the Chair, Mr Derbyshire in his address explained the parapet was slightly deeper to accommodate the green and brown detailing on the roof. Therefore the profile of the canopy itself was slightly thicker.

As detailed in the amendment sheet, the following alternative recommendation was proposed.

Due to recent ICT problems last week at Cambridge City Council there may be potential gaps in email delivery.  There could potentially be some further representations which may not have been received during the period of outage last week.  It is therefore recommended that subject to no additional material representations arising from any late representations received by Friday 26 April 2019 that final approval of the application be delegated to the Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development subject to the conditions contained in the report.

The Committee:

Resolved (unanimously) as agenda with the alternative recommendation (as above) and condition revisions as set out on the Amendment Sheet.

Officers to consider provision of an addition tree on the south west frontage through the discharge of condition 9: landscaping.  This is because there is a net loss of one tree from the originally approved scheme S/2403/17/FL.