Agenda

Purpose of Briefing:  

The purpose of this meeting is to give Members an insight into the proposals for the demolition of the existing library and the replacement with a new library and enhancements of the adjacent kitchen and upper hall areas at Christ’s College, St Andrew’s Street, Cambridge. Pre-application discussions have taken place between the LPA and Christ’s College/Turley (applicant/agent) on the proposals and the scheme has been reviewed by the Design Review Panel (DRP). 

Site Context:

Christ’s College is Grade I listed building located in the historic core of Cambridge City Centre. It stands immediately east of St. Andrew’s Street/Hobson Street, and is bordered by King Street to the north, Christ’s Pieces to the east, and the Bradwell’s Court redevelopment to the south.

The application site is the existing Christ’s College library, which includes the existing 1970’s library (designed by Christopher Grillet), the Bodley Library (C19) and West Range, South Range (early C16) and Bath Court. The Bodley Library punctuates the corner of Christ’s Lane where it meets St Andrews Street. The 1970’s library abuts Christ’s Lane, turning inwards and meets the lane in the form of a brick wall. Christ’s College has been placed by Historic England on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England at Grade II.

The site falls within the Central Conservation Area and within the controlled parking zone. There are tree preservation orders within the Christ’s College grounds.  Many of the surrounding buildings, including buildings within and outside the College grounds are listed.

In 2011 (11/0495/FUL/11/0516/LBC) and latterly in 2016 (16/0405/FUL /16/0406/LBC), planning and listed building consent was given for a new library, enclosure of the library court and provision of a bridge access between the first floor of the library and South Range and Bodley Library with internal and external alterations.

The proposal now seeks demolition of the existing library and the replacement with a new library and enhancements of the adjacent kitchen and upper hall areas.

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.