Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance).

Report of the Executive Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) setting out the detailed considerations for the major planning application on land at Broadwater Road West in Welwyn Garden City, a site known as the Former Shredded Wheat Factory.  The application was for a mixed use development which was residential led and would deliver up to 850 new homes as well as office, retail and leisure opportunities, public and private open space, highways improvements, landscaping and other benefits. 

 

The report also set out the material planning considerations as they related to each main issue.  The report also gave a detailed review of the proposed development as well as considering the potential environmental impacts, which could be positive or negative, as addressed by the submitted Environmental Impact Assessment.

 

Site Description

 

The application site is located to the east of Welwyn Garden City town centre in the Peartree ward, covers an area of approximately 12.7 hectares.  The site formed part of the wider Broadwater Road West development site, an area allocated for mixed use development and was split in two by Hydeway which ran east-west across the site and provided a pedestrian and vehicular link to the train station over-bridge, and on to the town centre, for the eastern half of the town.

 

The site itself was largely cleared of structures with the exception of the former Shredded Wheat factory buildings, including the silos, to the north of Hydeway and the former Polycell building immediately to the south of Hydeway.  The remaining buildings on site were vacant and in an increasing state of disrepair.  Members were asked to note that some of the Shredded Wheat factory buildings dated back to 1925 and all of the factory buildings are Grade II listed.

 

The Proposal

 

Overview  - The description of the proposed development, as it has been advertised was as follows:

 

Outline planning permission for part demolition, repair, restoration, extension and conversion of the former Shredded Wheat factory complex and included demolition of all buildings and structures except the original 1920's silos, production hall, grain store and boiler house.  Refurbishment and change of use of the retained listed buildings to provide two Class C3 residential units, a Class C1 boutique/budget hotel, Class B1(a) offices, a Class A4 pub/bar, a Class D1 crèche and a Class D2 gym/dance/exercise studio.  Erection of up to 850 Class C3 dwellings to potentially include up to 80 Class C2 (and/or C3 assisted living units), Class A1 retail, Class A3/A4 restaurants/cafés/bars/pubs, Class D1 community use and healthcare and Class D2 gym/dance/exercise studio floor space.

 

Provision of external space for leisure and recreation included a linear park, external games/play area, allotments and a skate park.  Creation of internal estate roads, paths, vehicle and cycle parking.  Associated highway works comprising the widening of footways and the provision of cycle ways to Broadwater Road and Bridge Road, works to Hydeway, junction remodelling works and the erection of a new footbridge from Bridge Road.  Phase 1 (Blocks 2,3,4,5,6 & 7 on land to the north and west of Hydeway and northern part of Block 1) – Includes Appearance, Means of Access, Landscaping, Layout and Scale in addition to all associated highway works.  Phase 2 (Blocks 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12 and southern part of Block 1 on land to the south of Hydeway) – Includes Means of Access with Layout, Scale, Appearance and Landscaping reserved.

 

Phase 1, predominantly the part of the site to the north of Hydeway, with the exception of part of block 1, was fully detailed at this stage of determination.  Should Members be minded to grant planning permission, the details that were before the Committee would be fixed for phase 1.

 

Phase 2, everything else to the south of Hydeway, was shown indicatively on many of the plans and documents that had been submitted, however only the means of access was detailed at this stage.  Should planning permission be granted for phase 2 then the Committee would be agreeing to a set of parameters and principles on which a future detailed planning application would be based.  Building and Landscape Design Codes had been submitted for phase 2 and would become approved documents.

 

Phase 1 comprised of seven different blocks of development as well as intervening areas of public open space such as the main civic square, also internal walkways and roadways, play areas, allotments and formal and informal gardens as well as a skate park and small areas of on-street parking.

 

Reason for Committee Consideration

 

The application was presented to the Development Management Committee because it represented a major planning application the determination of which should be made by elected Members in order to serve the public interest.

 

Officers advised the Committee that the applicant had proposed an additional 15 affordable homes on phase 1 and an amendment to the Heads of Terms to reflect the increase. 

 

The Committee was also advised of a number of corrections and modifications to the published report as well as an additional recommended condition, as updated earlier in the week of the committee.

 

Typographical Corrections

 

•               Paragraph 10.119 – “the 201 amendments” should read “the 2016 amendments”

 

•               Paragraph 10.129 – “that these buildings will been seen” should read “that these buildings will be seen”

 

•               Paragraph 10.140 – “it is considered that for point the key point” should read “it is considered that for the key point”

 

•               Paragraph 10.260 – “however the go on to state” should read “however they go on to state”

 

•               Paragraph 10.306 – “a limited proportion of these new homes would not be ‘affordable’” should read “a limited proportion of these new homes would be ‘affordable’”

 

•               Paragraph 12.1 – “Appendix A” should read “Appendix 1”

 

Report Amendments

 

•               Table  on page 28 of the report pack – the last row in the table has not been populated correctly and should be displayed as follows:

 

Effect	Mitigation Measure	Mechanism for Securing	Responsibility for Implementing
Wind: Effect on pedestrian comfort at the thoroughfare around the East end o the silo building (block 5) and two building entrances on the North side of the silo building (block 5)	A scheme of measures to reduce wind sheer, to be agreed with the Local Planning Authority, implemented and maintained on site.	Planning Condition	Applicant.

 

•               Paragraph 10.293 – In the last sentence it is stated that the restoration works to the listed building will also be included in the S106 Agreement. However, following advice, it is proposed to control these works by planning condition rather than S106 Agreement. As such, recommended condition 6 is included.

 

•               Recommended condition No.9 (page 77 of report pack), the word “access” should be removed from the first line of the condition. The condition should then read as follows:

 

Details of the appearance, landscaping, layout, and scale of phase 2 (hereinafter called, the reserved matters) shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority before any development begins on that phase and the development shall be carried out in accordance with the approved details.

           

REASON:   The outline application as submitted does not give particulars sufficient for consideration of these reserved matters.

 

•               Recommended condition No.16 (page 79 of report pack), the following words should be removed “or a Private Management and Maintenance Company has been established”. The reason for removing these words is that, if no Section 38 Agreement is entered into, the roads should be maintained in accordance with the approved scheme in perpetuity. The condition should then read as follows:

 

No development shall commence until details of the proposed arrangements for future management and maintenance of the proposed streets within the development have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority in consultation with the Highway Authority. The streets shall thereafter be maintained in accordance with the approved management and maintenance details until such time as an agreement has been entered into under Section 38 of the Highways Act 1980.

           

Reason: To ensure satisfactory development of the site and to ensure estate roads are managed and maintained thereafter to a suitable and safe standard.

 

Additional Condition

 

•               An additional condition is proposed in order for the developer to be able to deliver the proposed development in a phased manner, in agreement with the Council as Local Planning Authority. Whilst the proposals are split into two phases for the purposes of the planning application, it is likely that the construction process would take place in smaller phases. The wording of the additional condition would allow for details of many of the recommended conditions to be provided on a phase by phase basis, other than where site wide details are required. The proposed wording of recommended condition No.46 is as follows:

 

Before the commencement of any work on site a delivery schedule plan shall be submitted to, and approved in writing by, the Local Planning Authority defining the delivery schedule of the various parts of the development. Following the written approval of the delivery schedule plan, the term “prior to commencement” contained within conditions 9-45 (inclusive) shall be deemed to mean “prior to the commencement of any work on that phase"

 

REASON: In order to ensure the managed delivery of each part of the development and to ensure that the requirements of other conditions are complied with at the appropriate time.

 

Late representation in favour of the application had been received from the Welwyn Garden City Society.

 

Mr George Gordon (Applicant) spoke in favour of the application.

 

Mr Nigel Quinton (Objector) spoke against the application.

 

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Councillor M.Cowan spoke against the application.

 

During the discussion which ensued, the following points were made:-

 

Affordable Housing

 

Ø  Members expressed disappointment that the percentage of affordable housing across the whole site did not comply with the Council’s policy of 30%. 

 

Ø  Members questioned whether the viability of the site as reported would be affected so significantly should the number of affordable homes be increased.

 

Ø  Members expressed the view that in order to prevent Welwyn Garden City from becoming a dormitory town, preference should be given to the people of Welwyn Hatfield, particularly those who were in low paid employment.  The purchase price of a one bedroomed property on the site, at around £300,000, was likely to be prohibitive to a large number of people in the Borough.  The proposal did not include part ownership with the Local Authority.

 

Ø  Members expressed that view that they would have expected there to be a percentage of the minimum amount of affordable housing guaranteed on future phases to be stated clearly in the documentation.  It was suggested that a condition should be attached which guaranteed that the number of affordable housing units in the second phase and there on after should be at least ten percent. However this suggestion was not taken forward.

 

Other issues

 

The number of car parking places and the use of what was historically employment land for residential purposes was contradictory to local policy.

 

The Chairman made the following summary comments: - 

 

•               Phase 1 would be standalone and in order to make it viable the figure of affordable housing would need to be 14%.

•               Due to the difficult work associated with clearing and developing the site, Phase 1 would have 14% affordable housing. 

•               Phase 2 would be subject to the same profit appraisal as Phase 1 and would be more profitable.

 

Officers confirmed that should the Committee be so minded as to approve the application for phase 1, the Committee could refuse phase 2 should insufficient affordable housing be included, although regard would need to be given to any viability evidence submitted.  It would not be possible to state a minimum amount of affordable housing to be based on the viability of the development at this stage. 

 

It was then moved by Councillor S.Markiewicz, seconded by Councillor N.Pace and

 

RESOLVED:

(9 voting for, 5 against and one abstention)

 

That planning permission be approved as recommendation for application N6/2015/0294/PP, subject to the conditions set out in the report of Officers with a modification to conditions Numbers 9 and 16, additional condition number 46 and amendment to the agreed Heads of Terms to account for 15 additional affordable homes on phase 1 as set out below.

 

Condition 9 To Be Amended To:

 

Details of the appearance, landscaping, layout, and scale of phase 2 (hereinafter called, the reserved matters) shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority before any development begins on that phase and the development shall be carried out in accordance with the approved details.

 

REASON:  The outline application as submitted does not give particulars sufficient for consideration of these reserved matters.

 

Condition Number 16 To Be Amended To:

 

No development shall commence until details of the proposed arrangements for future management and maintenance of the proposed streets within the development have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority in consultation with the Highway Authority. The streets shall thereafter be maintained in accordance with the approved management and maintenance details until such time as an agreement has been entered into under Section 38 of the Highways Act 1980.

 

REASON: To ensure satisfactory development of the site and to ensure estate roads are managed and maintained thereafter to a suitable and safe standard.

 

Condition Number 46 To Read As:

 

Before the commencement of any work on site a delivery schedule plan shall be submitted to, and approved in writing by, the Local Planning Authority defining the delivery schedule of the various parts of the development. Following the written approval of the delivery schedule plan, the term “prior to commencement” contained within conditions 9-45 (inclusive) shall be deemed to mean “prior to the commencement of any work on that phase"

 

REASON: In order to ensure the managed delivery of each part of the development and to ensure that the requirements of other conditions are complied with at the appropriate time.