Issue - meetings

(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.

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 the High Road (A113) and Vicarage Lane, external landscaping and associated development. The application was before the Committee as it was classified as a ‘large scale major’ development as defined within the guidance issued by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.

The Assistant Director stated that the application site comprised the Chigwell County Primary School and the former BI Sports Ground fronting the High Road and extending along Vicarage Lane and the full length of the access road serving the School. The School comprised a mixture of single storey buildings dating from between the 1930’s and 1960’s, and a number of temporary classrooms; there were three principal School buildings. All buildings on the former Sports Ground had been removed above ground level and the land was mainly given over to scrubland, other than an access on Vicarage Lane and the mature tree screens that laid around and within the land. The surrounding area comprised a mixture of residential and non-residential uses, and there were three listed buildings opposite the site on the High Road. All of the land within the site boundaries was inside the metropolitan Green Belt, but the site laid outside the Chigwell Conservation Area which abutted it. Much of the site was covered by group Tree Preservation Orders and a number of trees were subject to individual orders; there were also two public rights of way crossing the site.

The Assistant Director reported that the current application was based upon previous submissions. The original planning permission had sought to refurbish the School within the existing buildings with an enabling development of 32 houses (submitted in outline only). Revised proposals for the School were approved in March 2017 as a minor amendment to the original permission. The current application had been submitted on the basis that the revised proposal for the School was not viable without additional enabling development. The associated development now comprised 59 residential units, submitted as a full application, and consisted of 7 x 2-bedroom flats, 15 x 3-bedroom houses, 13 x 4-bedroom houses, 23 x 5-bedroom houses and 1 x 7-bedroom house. All of the houses were detached and would be provided with a minimum of 2 parking spaces each and private gardens.

The Assistant Director reminded the Committee that this application had previously been deferred at the last two meetings of the Committee when it had been recommended for refusal, pending discussions between the Applicant and Planning Officers principally concerning the provision of affordable housing. Following further discussions in January 2018, the Applicant had accepted that an additional contribution of £1million towards the provision of off-site affordable housing should be made. Whilst this remained below the full assessment originally requested by the Council, consideration had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50

(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,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42

(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.

The Principal Planning Officer presented a report for the complete refurbishment of Chigwell Primary Academy 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 application was before the Committee as it was classed as a ‘large scale major’ application as defined within the guidance issued by the Department of Communities & Local Government.

The Principal Planning Officer stated that the application site comprised the Chigwell County Primary School and the former BI Sports Ground fronting High Road and extending along Vicarage Lane and the full length of the access road serving the School. The School comprised a mixture of single storey buildings, dating from between the 1930’s and 1960’s, and a number of temporary classrooms; there were three principal School buildings. All buildings on the former Sports Ground had been removed above ground level and the land was given over to mainly scrubland, other than an access on Vicarage Lane and the mature tree screens that laid around and within the land. The surrounding area comprised a mixture of residential and non-residential uses, and there were three listed buildings opposite the site on High Road. All of the land within the site boundaries was inside the Green Belt, but the site laid outside the Chigwell Conservation Area which abutted it. Much of the site was covered by group Tree Preservation Orders and a number of trees were subject to individual orders; there were also two public rights of way crossing the site.

The Principal Planning Officer reminded the Committee that the current application was based upon previous submissions. The original planning permission sought to refurbish the School within the existing buildings with an enabling development of 32 houses (submitted in outline only). Revised proposals for the School were approved in March 2017 as a minor amendment to the original permission. The current application had been submitted on the basis that the revised proposal for the School was not viable without additional enabling development. The associated development now comprised 59 residential units, submitted as a full application, and consisted of 7 x 2-bedroom flats, 15 x 3-bedroom houses, 13 x 4-bedroom houses, 23 x 5-bedroom houses and 1 x 7-bedroom house. All of the houses were detached and provided with a minimum of 2 parking spaces and private gardens.

The Principal Planning Officer explained that one of the key issues was the proposals generated an affordable housing requirement for 40% of the houses across all types of dwelling. The application had been accompanied by the required viability report and the Applicant was again advocating a financial contribution towards off-site provision. The Council’s Viability Consultant, Kift Consulting Limited (Kift), had reviewed the submission and had highlighted a number of discrepancies. Kift were of the opinion that the scheme would generate a surplus of £10.064million, which was significantly higher than the surplus of £2.545million identified  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29