Agenda item

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report for the demolition of the existing Public House and 10 & 12 Newmans Lane, and construction of 8 x 1 bedroom flats and 22 x 2 bedroom flats in two blocks with undercroft parking and landscaping.

The Assistant Director of Governance (Development Management) presented a report for the demolition of the existing Public House as well as 10 and 12 Newmans Lane, and construction of 8 x 1-bedroom flats and 22 x 2-bedroom flats in two blocks with undercroft parking and landscaping. The application was before the Committee as it was classified as a major application for development on Council-owned land.

 

The Assistant Director stated that the application site was roughly rectangular and situated on the north side of Borders Lane at the junction with Newmans Lane. The site was well screened at the junction by existing vegetation with the southern part of the site grassed over. Several trees were preserved, including a veteran Oak tree. The southern part of the site contained the Public House building, with a car parking area to the north. Beyond the car park was 10 and 12 Newmans Lane, a pair of semi-detached two storey dwellings; no. 10 was unoccupied and was currently boarded up due to subsidence issues. The land to the east of the site was a relatively recently developed housing estate and was previously the ‘upper’ site to Epping Forest College.

 

The Assistant Director reported that the larger of the two blocks would form an ‘L’ shape to the southern side of the site and would contain 23 flats. Parking for 17 cars would be located behind the block in an undercroft, with a first floor communal terrace area above. This block would be set back from Borders Lane by a minimum of 8 metres and from Newmans Lane by a minimum of 5 metres. To the north of this block would be a larger parking area for 28 cars and a landscaping area around the preserved Oak tree. The smaller block would be situated to the north of the site and would consist of 7 flats. This block would be set back 2.2 metres from the boundary with 14 Newmans Lane.

 

The Assistant Director informed the Committee that the main issues with this application were the principle of the proposed development, the provision of affordable housing, the design and appearance of the proposed development, the impact on neighbouring amenity, highways matters, car parking, and trees and landscaping issues. In respect of affordable housing provision, the Council’s viability consultants had initially concluded that there was a surplus profit of £165,000 for off-site affordable housing contribution, but it had later transpired that they had wrongly added capitalised ground rents to the Gross Development Value for the larger block, when in fact the interest was being sold by the Council on a long leasehold and therefore the Council would receive the income from the ground rents throughout the life of the lease. The effect of this would be to reduce the surplus close to zero. The Council’s Senior Housing Development Officer had therefore concluded that the affordable housing contribution was no longer justified, and consequently a Section 106 Legal Agreement was no longer required. Planning Officers had concluded that the proposal was an acceptable scheme and it was therefore recommended for approval.

 

The Committee noted the summary of representations, and that six letters of objection and one letter of support had been received. Loughton Town Council had no objection to the proposal. There were no public speakers registered and the Committee proceeded to debate the application.

 

Some Members were concerned that there was no affordable housing resulting directly or indirectly from this development. It was highlighted that the Council’s policy was for affordable housing to be provided for applications of this size, either on or off site, and there was nothing before the Committee to explain why this policy was not being complied with. There was also a concern that the Council was making itself exempt from its own agreed Local Plan policy for affordable housing.

 

The Assistant Director reassured the Committee that this issue had only arisen earlier during the day of the meeting. The development through the significant extension of the leasehold of the public house site, and the selling of 10 Newmans Lane to the Applicant, was generating a substantial capital receipt to the Council in the region of £2.5million, which in this instance was considered a better return than the provision of further affordable housing. The local area was already benefiting from 100% on-site affordable housing developments on Council owned-sites, which would provide a further 51 units; to provide affordable housing on this site as well would make the development unviable.

 

A local Member for Theydon Bois reminded the Committee that 10 Newmans Lane was in the ownership of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), and consequently any capital receipt for that property would go to the HRA. In addition, permission had been granted in the past for developments where the provision of affordable housing would make the application unviable. The Member felt that the development would fit in very well with the area and supported the application. It was also emphasised that the development could be reviewed by the Governance Select Committee in the future.

 

A local Member for Loughton Broadway did not like the design and felt that there should have been an affordable housing element. The Member felt that condition 12 should have also referred to the north-bound bus stop adjacent to the site as well, as this would encourage residents of the development not to own cars. The Assistant Director was cautious about amending the condition without advice from Essex Highways, so the Member proposed that the condition be amended for the facilities to be improved and the bus stop shelter to be reinstated at the north-bound bus stop following advice from Essex Highways.

 

Decision:

 

(1)        That planning application EPF/1269/15 at the Golden Lion Public House, Borders Lane in Loughton be granted permission, subject to the following conditions:

 

1.         The development hereby permitted must be begun not later than the expiration of three years beginning with the date of this notice.

 

2.         The development hereby permitted will be completed strictly in accordance with the approved drawings nos: PL10A, PL12.1F, PL12.2E, PL12.3E, PL12.4E, PL12.7A, PL12.8A and PL12.9A, PL14, PL15J, PL16C, PL20.1E, PL20.2E and PL22.

 

3.         No construction works above ground level shall take place until documentary and photographic details of the types and colours of the external finishes have been submitted to and approved by the Local Planning Authority in writing. The development shall be implemented in accordance with such approved details.

 

4.         Prior to first occupation of the development hereby approved, the proposed first and second floor window openings in the north east facing (secondary windows for bedrooms) and rear/side facing windows (serving hall/landing areas on Block B of the plans) shall be entirely fitted with obscured glass and have fixed frames to a height of 1.7 metres above the floor of the room in which the window is installed and shall be permanently retained in that condition.

 

5.         No development shall take place, including any works of demolition, until a Construction Method Statement has been submitted to, and approved in writing by, the Local Planning Authority. The approved Statement shall be adhered to throughout the construction period. The Statement shall provide for:

 

(i)         the parking of vehicles of site operatives and visitors;

 

(ii)        loading and unloading of plant and materials;

 

(iii)        storage of plant and materials used in constructing the development;

 

(iv)       the erection and maintenance of security hoarding including decorative displays and facilities for public viewing, where appropriate;

 

(v)        measures to control the emission of dust and dirt during construction, including wheel washing; and

 

(vi)       a scheme for recycling/disposing of waste resulting from demolition and construction works.

 

6.         No development shall take place until details of levels have been submitted to and approved by the Local Planning Authority showing cross-sections and elevations of the levels of the site prior to development and the proposed levels of all ground floor slabs of buildings, roadways and accessways and landscaped areas. The development shall be carried out in accordance with those approved details.

 

7.         All construction/demolition works and ancillary operations, including vehicle movement on site which are audible at the boundary of noise sensitive premises, shall only take place between the hours of 07.30 to 18.30 Monday to Friday and 08.00 to 13.00 hours on Saturday, and at no time during Sundays and Public/Bank Holidays unless otherwise agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority.

 

8.         No development shall take place, including site clearance or other preparatory work, until full details of both hard and soft landscape works (including tree planting) and implementation programme (linked to the development schedule) have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. These works shall be carried out as approved. The hard landscaping details shall include, as appropriate, and in addition to details of existing features to be retained: proposed finished levels or contours; means of enclosure; car parking layouts; other minor artefacts and structures, including signs and lighting and functional services above and below ground. The details of soft landscape works shall include plans for planting or establishment by any means and full written specifications and schedules of plants, including species, plant sizes and proposed numbers /densities where appropriate. If within a period of five years from the date of the planting or establishment of any tree, shrub or plant, that tree, shrub, or plant or any replacement is removed, uprooted or destroyed or dies or becomes seriously damaged or defective then another tree or shrub, or plant of the same species and size as that originally planted shall be planted at the same place, unless the Local Planning Authority gives its written consent to any variation.

 

9.         No development, including works of demolition or site clearance, shall take place until a Tree Protection Plan Arboricultural Method Statement and site monitoring schedule in accordance with BS:5837:2012 (Trees in relation to design, demolition and construction - recommendations) has been submitted to the Local Planning Authority and approved in writing. The development shall be carried out only in accordance with the approved documents unless the Local Planning Authority gives its written consent to any variation.

 

10.       Prior to the first occupation of the development the access, vehicle parking and turning areas as indicated on the approved plans shall be provided, hard surfaced, sealed and marked out. The access, parking and turning areas shall be retained in perpetuity for their intended purpose.

 

11.       Prior to the first occupation of the development, the existing vehicular access shall be permanently closed off incorporating the reinstatement of the footway and full height kerbing.

 

12.       Prior to first occupation of the development the developer shall be responsible for the implementation of Real Time Passenger Information, to Essex County Council specification, to the south-bound bus stop adjacent to the site, and the implementation of Real Time Passenger Information and the reinstatement of the bus shelter to the north-bound bus stop adjacent to the site following advice from Essex County Council.

 

13.       Prior to first occupation of the proposed development, the Developer shall be responsible for the provision and implementation per dwelling - of a Residential Travel Information Pack for sustainable transport, approved by Essex County Council, to include six one day travel vouchers for use with the relevant local public transport operator.

 

14.       There shall be no discharge of surface water onto the Highway.

 

15.       No unbound material shall be used in the surface treatment of the vehicular access within 6 metres of the highway boundary.

 

16.       Before each phase of development approved by this planning permission, a detailed surface water drainage scheme for the site, based on sustainable drainage principles and an assessment of the hydrological and hydrogeological context of the development, should be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority. The scheme should be based on the surface water drainage statement referenced A3433/NSW/SurfaceWaterDrainageStatement/ TheGoldenLionPC, issued on 18 November 2015.

 

            The scheme shall include:

 

(i)         a survey of existing drainage on site. Once the survey has been conducted the applicant should demonstrate permission from the relevant water body for any proposed connection to a surface water sewer;

 

(ii)        infiltration testing in line with BRE 365 and a ground survey to confirm underlying soils and groundwater levels. If infiltration testing is found to be viable, this method should be utilized where feasible with run-off rates from the site restricted to a maximum of 4.8l/s for the 1 in 1, 8.3l/s for the 1 in 30 and 9.7l/s for the 1 in 100 inclusive of climate change event. If infiltration is found to be unviable run-off rates from the site should be restricted to a maximum of 5l/s for the 1 in1, 8.5l/s for the 1 in 30 and 10l/s for the 1 in 100 inclusive of climate change event;

 

(iii)        storage for the 1 in 100 year event inclusive of climate change storm event;

 

(iv)       an appropriate level of treatment for all run-off leaving the site in line with CIRIA Guidance; and

 

(v)        details of final exceedance and conveyance routes.

 

            The scheme shall subsequently be implemented in accordance with the approved details before the development is completed.

 

17.       The development hereby permitted shall not be commenced until such time as a scheme to minimise the risk of offsite flooding caused by surface water run-off and groundwater during construction works has been submitted to, and approved in writing by, the Local Planning Authority. The scheme shall be implemented as approved.

 

18.       Prior to commencement of the development the applicant must submit a Maintenance Plan detailing the maintenance arrangements including who is responsible for different elements of the surface water drainage system and the maintenance activities/frequencies.

 

19.       The adopting body responsible for maintenance of the surface water drainage system shall record yearly logs of maintenance which should be carried out in accordance with any approved Maintenance Plan. These must be available for inspection upon a request by the Local Planning Authority.

 

20.       No development shall take place until details of surface water disposal have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The development shall be implemented in accordance with such agreed details.

 

21.       The development shall be carried out only in accordance with the Daytime Bat Assessment Report by Betts Ecology unless the Local Planning Authority gives its written consent to any variation. If any bats are found during this demolition then all works must stop immediately and advice sort from a fully licenced ecologist.

 

22.       Prior to first occupation of the development hereby approved, the proposed screen around the communal terrace shall be fitted with a brick wall to a height of 1.1m with a 0.7m obscured glass screen on top as shown on drawing No. PL22 and shall be permanently retained in that condition.