Agenda

The site that is the subject of this presentation lies on the north-eastern side of Newmarket Road, to the east of the Grade II Listed Abbey Church (St Andrew The Less). On 29th August 2018, two separate applications relating to directly adjoining land at 143-149 Newmarket Road, and a parcel of land immediately to the rear/north that forms part of the Church site were considered at Planning Committee. These applications are listed below:

17/1815/FUL – 143-149 Newmarket Road – Demolition of No.149, and the erection of new buildings comprising 11 residential units and Class A3 café space on the ground floor

This application was reconsidered at Planning Committee on 7th November 2018 at which Members agreed a ‘minded to refuse’ resolution, contrary to Officer recommendation, due to: impact on the amenities of occupiers of dwellings in Beche Road; impact on the streetscene; poor standard of amenity for future occupiers; absence of affordable housing provision; and contrary to Policy 51. An appeal against non-determination of the application was submitted prior to the November Committee meeting and the application cannot therefore be determined by the Council.

17/2163/FUL – Abbey Church St Andrew the Less – 3 dwellings

Refused due to: poor standard of amenity for future occupiers; absence of information regarding impact on trees; absence of information regarding amenities for future occupiers if church brought back into community use; and lack of biodiversity information.

The two parties were encouraged to come together and work on a joint proposal by members at a Development Control Forum meeting in January of this year.

The pre-application presentation relates to a residential development scheme on land that encompasses both sites, with a view to securing a schedule of repair works and the bringing back into use of the Church, which is identified by Historic England as a Building at Risk, as a public benefit of the scheme.

Councillor attendance

Whilst any subsequent planning application relating to this site will be determined by the Planning Committee, all Councillors are invited to attend and take part in this pre-application developer presentation.

Purpose of the meeting

These meetings allow developers an early opportunity to present proposals for future planning applications to elected members of the Council.

The process allows Councillors to feed into the process at an early stage and raise any questions or concerns that can then be addressed by the developer prior to a formal planning application being submitted.

Whilst the meetings will be held in public, they do not form part of the formal decision making process. All planning applications will be determined in line with formal processes as adopted by Cambridge City Council.  

Format of the Meeting

For each Briefing:

·       Introduction by the Head of Planning Services or a Senior Planning Officer – up to 10 minutes

·       Presentation by the developer of the proposal – up to 30 minutes

·       Opportunity for Members to ask questions, raise issues, seek clarification, comment on the apparent positive and less positive aspects of the proposal – up to 40 minutes

During this part of the meeting it is important that Councillors who may ultimately make the decision on any subsequent planning application do not feel unduly constrained by what they can ask or raise. However they should avoid expressing views that might give any appearance that they are approaching the proposal with a closed mind. The discussion should not be used for negotiations with the developer. These should take place with officers separately from the meeting. Members of the public must refrain from entering into the discussion at the meeting.

·       Summing up – up to 10 minutes

A Planning Department representative will take notes of the meeting, which will be a summary of the proceedings. Nothing said by Councillors at the meeting will in any way be binding on the Committee that subsequently determines the application. The notes will be uploaded to the City Council’s website upon completion.