Agenda item

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report for the complete refurbishment of Chigwell Primary Academy and enabling residential development comprising 59 no. residential properties together with associated off-street parking, a dedicated parking court for existing residents, garden space, new vehicular accesses from High Road (A113) and Vicarage Lane, external landscaping and associated development.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached addendum report alongside the main report previously published.

The Assistant Director of Governance (Development Management) introduced a report for the complete refurbishment of Chigwell Primary School and enabling residential development comprising 59 residential properties together with associated off-street parking, a dedicated parking court for existing residents, garden space, new vehicular accesses from High Road (A113) and Vicarage Lane, external landscaping and associated development.

The Assistant Director reminded the Committee that it had deferred this application at the last meeting to allow further consideration of affordable housing matters. Following the last meeting, the Applicant had commissioned a new viability assessment rather than negotiate further on the original submission, which required a new reassessment by the Council’s consultants, Kift Consulting Limited (KCL). KCL concluded that the development could now provide an off-site affordable housing contribution of £4.8million, as opposed to the Applicant’s original offer of £2million, and the application was still recommended for refusal by Officers.

However, the Assistant Director explained that there had been some further discussions / negotiations this week regarding the affordable housing provision, and agreement had been reached with the Applicant. Consequently, the recommendations within the report were no longer valid and a revised report was being prepared by Officers. Advice had been sought from the Council’s Democratic Services section, and the Committee was now being strongly advised to defer this item. A special meeting had been arranged for Thursday 15 February 2018 to consider this application with a revised report, which would now recommend the granting of planning permission for the application, subject to a number of planning conditions and the agreement of a Section 106 Legal Agreement. Consequently, the Committee was now strongly urged to defer consideration of this application until the extra-ordinary meeting on 15 February 2018.

Cllr Knapman argued that if an affordable housing provision of £3million had been agreed between the Applicant and Officers then the Committee could determine this application and Officers could progress the detail of the Section 106 Legal Agreement. Cllr Knapman could not understand the reasons for further delay, and did not accept the Officers’ reason for deferral. Cllr Chambers and Cllr Heap also spoke out against deferring this application.

However, a number of other Councillors concurred with the recommendation of Officers to defer this application for another two weeks. Cllr Brady commented that this was a large scale application and the Committee should be in possession of all the facts when considering it. It was not the fault of the Council’s Officers that negotiations had only began two or three days before the meeting. Cllr Jones contended that the Committee could not vote on the application if it did not have a valid report in front of it. The Council was duty bound to attain the correct amount of affordable housing and this item should be deferred. Cllr Kane also agreed that the Committee could not determine an application when the report before it was not valid.

Cllr Pond also highlighted that it was good practice for the Committee to have a proper report before it, otherwise there was a risk to the Council of a judicial review or the decision would be open to challenge. The Senior Democratic Services Officer informed the Committee that the possibility of a judicial review or a challenge to the decision had been uppermost in the thoughts of Officers prior to the meeting, and the decision to recommend deferral of this application had not been taken lightly. The Assistant Director confirmed that negotiations had now concluded with the Applicant and the final report would be completed by Officers by the end of this week. In relation to the second reason for refusal, the Applicant had revised the landscaping details to provide more screening.

The Committee heard from the Applicant’s Agent and the Applicant’s Affordable Housing Consultant, both of whom confirmed the conclusion of the negotiations but exhorted the Committee to grant planning permission for the Application at this meeting as there was a risk that the funding for the project would have expired by 15 February 2018.

Cllr Chambers urged the Committee to determine the application to avoid the loss of funding, and Cllr Knapman felt that the issues should have been dealt with in time for this meeting. However, Cllr Brady reiterated that the Council should follow the correct procedure in determining this large and important application and it was unrealistic for Officers to produce a revised report in less than two days. Cllr Jones sympathised with the situation but declared that she would have to vote against the application if the Committee determined it at this meeting on the basis of an unsound report. It would be better to wait two weeks for a revised and correct report. Cllr Heap also emphasised that if the application was deferred then it would allow an objector an opportunity to register to speak at the extra-ordinary meeting.

The Chairman acknowledged that a number of Members of the Committee were not comfortable with determining the application this evening, given that the report before the Committee was no longer valid. The Chairman felt that the application would have been granted if the proper paperwork could have been produced in time, but this Committee was the Council’s foremost Planning Committee and it had to follow due, legal process. Therefore, the Chairman felt that the application should be deferred.

Decision:

(1)        That determination of planning application EPF/1849/17 at Chigwell Primary School in High Road, Chigwell be deferred until the extra-ordinary meeting of the Committee, scheduled for 15 February 2018, to allow for the production of a revised report following the conclusion of negotiations between the Council and the Applicant.