Issue - meetings

The Planning Team Leader:

a)    described the application site on land in front of Yarborough Leisure Centre allocated as a site for residential development in the adopted Local Plan, currently owned by the City of Lincoln Council with agreement to sell the land to the applicants

b)    advised that planning permission was sought by Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) for the erection of a three storey building for new teaching space and erection of five buildings for student accommodation made up of three, four and five storeys, with vehicular access from Riseholme Road and provision of 40 car parking spaces

c)    provided details of the policies pertaining to the application, as follows:

·         National Planning Policy Framework; Chapters

Ø      2: Achieving Sustainable Development

Ø      4: Decision Making

Ø      5: Delivering a Sufficient Supply of Homes

Ø      6: Building a Strong Competitive Economy

Ø      11: Making Effective Use of Land

Ø      12: Achieving Well-Designed Places

·         Central Lincolnshire Local Plan. Policies

Ø      LP1: A Presumption in Favour of Sustainable Development

Ø      LP10: Meeting Accommodation Needs

Ø      LP26: Design and Amenity

Ø      LP32: Lincoln’s Universities and Colleges

Ø      LP29: Residential Allocations-Lincoln

d)    outlined the responses made to the consultation exercise

e)    advised members of the main issues to be considered as part of the application to assess the proposal with regard to:

·         National and Local Planning Policy

·         Visual Appearance and Impact

·         Impact on Adjacent Residents

·         Traffic and Pedestrian Safety

·         Trees, Open Space and Ecology

·         Drainage, Archaeology, Ground Conditions

f)     concluded that:

·         The application before Planning Committee had been carefully considered and was sensitive to the context of the local area.

·         The site had an allocation for housing in your adopted Local Plan and the use proposed, whilst not conventional housing, provided significant residential accommodation.

·         The proposal allowed BGU to continue to develop and ensured that there was little impact on their neighbours and the wider City.

·         The design of the new buildings, their scale, location and the materials with which they were to be built were appropriate to this part of the City and the use would not cause harm to the amenity of local residents.

·         The tree cover and landscaping of the site had gone through detailed consideration and an acceptable solution could be agreed.

g)    recommended that planning permission be granted subject to the conditions outlined at page 21 of the officer’s report, together with additional conditions requiring the implementation of a surface water drainage scheme and the formation of a new vehicular access.

Mr Jeremy Wright, addressed Planning Committee in objection to the proposed development, covering the following main points:

·         He spoke on behalf of Lincoln Civic Trust which objected most strongly to the planning application and recommended refusal.

·         He also spoke on behalf of 30 other local residents who were all against the planning application.

·         The location of the proposed development on Riseholme Road, represented the former Roman Ermine Street as the entrance to Historic Lincoln with distant views of the cathedral visible between the trees lining both sides of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61