Agenda

Address: Merton Hall Cottage Northampton Street Cambridge Cambridgeshire CB3 0AD

Application Type: TBC – It is expected to be a FULL planning application

Applicant: St John’s College

Description of Development: Erection of purpose built student accommodation and associated infrastructure and landscaping. Demolition and re-build of the existing coach house and associated outbuildings, alterations to existing Grade II Listed Buildings and a new energy centre.

Purpose of Briefing: The purpose of this meeting is to give Members an insight into how the proposed development of student accommodation has evolved and overcome Officers concerns throughout the pre application process on a site which is highly constrained with various heritage assets including Listed Buildings, Historic Parks and Gardens and the Central Cambridge Conservation Area. The site is also at medium to high risk of flooding and benefits from a number of trees. The presentation offers an opportunity for Members to ask questions.

Site Context: The site comprises of an open parcel of land within the Grade II residential properties of Merton House; Merton Cottage and the Grade II* Historic Park and Garden land associated with St Johns College. The site benefits from mature vegetation and part of a landscaped garden area known as the Spinney.

The application site is situated directly adjacent to the Cripps Building (Grade II*), Bin Brook, Merton Hall (Grade II*) and the School of Pythagoras (Grade I).

The proposal would be located within a Grade II* Registered Park and Garden and is considered to be an area of Protected Open Space. The site is also within the Central Conservation Area. Due to its proximity to Bin Brook, the site is also located within Flood Zone 2 and 3.

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.