Agenda item

The Committee considered the report of the Business Manager – Planning Development, which sought outline planning permission for the change of use of the Prospect House building from office use (Class B1(a)) to 17 Apartments (Class C3) (Phase 1) and the erection of an apartment block for up to a maximum of 26 Apartments (Phase 2) (with all matters reserved).  Members considered the presentation from the Planning Officer, which included photographs and plans of the proposed development.

A schedule of communication was tabled at the meeting which detailed correspondence received after the Agenda was published from the Planning Case Officer.

The Planning Case Officer, following a review of the conditions recommended some minor amendments as contained in the schedule of communication, to conditions 3 and 4 as follows in addition to changing informative 3:

Conditions

3

Any details submitted in relation to reserved matters for landscaping shall include a schedule (including planting plans and written specifications, cultivation and other operations associated with plant and grass establishment) of trees, shrubs and other plants, noting species, plant sizes, proposed numbers and densities. The scheme shall be designed so as to enhance the nature conservation value of the site, including the use of locally native plant species and shall include details of a management plan. The approved details shall thereafter be implemented in accordance with the requirements of the reserved matters.

Reason: In order to ensure the landscaping of the site promotes biodiversity on the site in accordance with the aims of Core Policy 12 of the Newark and Sherwood Core Strategy (2019).

4

The development hereby permitted authorises the conversion of Prospect House as identified on the Proposed Site Plan (19 / 2242 /(00)A/003 Rev. B) in Phase 1 to accommodate no more than 17 residential units and the erection of no more than 26 residential units within Phase 2 of the site as demarcated on the Amended Proposed Phasing Plan (19 / 2242 /(00)A/004 Rev. A). For the avoidance of doubt Phase 2 shall not commence until Phase 1 has been commenced.

Reason: To define the planning permission.

Informative

3

This application has been the subject of discussions during the application process to ensure that the proposal is acceptable. The District Planning Authority has accordingly worked positively and pro-actively, seeking solutions to problems arising in coming to its decision. This is fully in accordance with Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) Order 2015 (as amended).

Members considered the application and it was commented that Prospect House had been left vacant for one year but hadn’t been put forward for further office use and should have been replaced with another business, as this was a good location for businesses.  Parts of the adjacent energy village were currently residential with a lot of vacancies, 70% of the energy village was occupied and the rest was on the market.  It was commented that this property would be facing onto an industrial site with no open green space.  The site was considered over-intensification as half of the car park would be used to create the new unit, which Members considered was not required due to the current vacant properties.  The road network around this site was already heavily congested and the change of use would take away jobs in the area, however Members noted the fall-back positon that Prospect House could change use to residential under permitted development and that consent had already been granted for this.  There would be insufficient car parking given that there was only one parking place per unit but Members acknowledged this was a reserved matter.  Other Members felt that given the current economic climate the country was facing due to Covid-19, more businesses would be affected and similar schemes would be submitted.  Members felt that it was a shame that this area of business regeneration was being changed.

AGREED      (with 9 votes for and 4 votes against) that planning permission be approved, subject to the following:

(i)            conditions and reasons contained within the report, with the amendments to conditions 3 and 4 and the Informative 3 as contained in the schedule of communication and as detailed above; and

(ii)           

(iii)        the completion of a S106 Agreement also contained within the report.