Issue - meetings

The Committee received an application for the change of Use and alterations of 1 no. BT telephone box to 1 no. coffee and snacks pod (Class E(a) (former A1 use).

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 reason:

The proposed change of use to a drinks and coffee pod would detract from the character and setting of the listed phone box and surrounding heritage assets. The harm would arise as the nature of the proposed use means that activity could not realistically be contained within the limited confines of the phone box. It is therefore likely that the door would need to be kept open for long periods of time and that the use would be heavily reliant upon the already very busy and congested surrounding outside space to properly function, thereby resulting in an overdevelopment of the area. Additionally, it has not been demonstrated that the use can be achieved without resulting in damage to the structure of the listed building itself. The proposed change of use and associated works would therefore be contrary to Policies 58 and 61 of the Cambridge Local Plan 2018. It is considered the degree of harm to the heritage assets would be less than substantial and, whilst it is recognised the proposal would provide an alternative use for this listed structure, this is not considered to constitute sufficient public benefit to outweigh the harm, particularly as there has been no assessment of alternative uses that could secure the reuse of the phone box whilst preserving the settings of the phone box and surrounding assets. The proposal is therefore also contrary to Paragraph 202 of the NPPF 2021.