Agenda item

The Assistant Director of Planning:

 

a.    advised that outline planning permission was sought for the erection of a hotel at the corner of Waterside South and Melville Street in respect of access with all other matters; appearance, landscaping, layout and scale reserved

 

b.    explained that the proposed hotel was for approximately 120-150 beds, with front of house and restaurant facilities provided at ground level

 

c.    advised that the proposal had been subject to pre application discussions and had also been negotiated during the course of the application, with revisions secured and revised plans received; the main changes to the scheme comprised the removal of a storey and the realignment of the building line back from Melville Street

 

d.    highlighted that whilst all matters except access were reserved, given the location of the site within the Cathedral and City Centre  Conservation Area, and the potential effect of the hotel on views of the historic hillside and Cathedral, indicative details of the potential height, scale, massing and design parameters of the building were required as part of the Outline submission

 

e.    advised that as the application was for Outline permission, the detailed design of the hotel had not been finalised, however, a design code had been provided as part of the application, along with an indication of height and massing with the final elevational treatment and material pallets to be agreed at Reserved Matters stage

 

f.     reported that the site, formerly the Co-op City Square Shopping Centre and car park was currently vacant, all existing structures on the site would be demolished, including the existing footbridge which spanned Melville Street and landed within the NE corner of the application site

 

g.   explained that the proposed hotel site was 1911m in an area located immediately south of the River Witham, part of the wider Cornhill Quarter redevelopment scheme and close to the recent developments of the new Central Car Park and the City Bus Station

 

h.    confirmed the location of the site within the Cathedral and City Centre and Conservation Area No1 and within the Central Mixed Use Area

 

i.      advised that an application for full planning permission had also been submitted on behalf of McCarthy Stone for a scheme of apartments, associated parking and living facilities with ground floor retail for the remainder of the City Square Shopping Centre site to the east of the application site (2022/0128/FUL)

 

j.      provided details of the policies pertaining to the application, as follows:

 

·         Policy LP1: A Presumption in Favour of Sustainable Development

·         Policy LP17: Landscape, Townscape and Views

·         Policy LP26: Design and Amenity

·         National Planning Policy Framework

k.    advised Planning Committee of the main issues to be considered as part of the application to assess the proposal with regards to:

 

·         Local and National Planning Policy

·         Demolition in the Conservation Area including existing buildings and footbridge

·         Effect on established key views including the historic hillside and Cathedral

·         Effect on the Character and Appearance of the Conservation Area and Visual Amenity

·         Impact on Residential Amenity

·         Vitality and Viability of the City Centre

·         Highways

·         Flood Risk/Drainage

·         Land Contamination

·         Air Quality

·         Fume Extraction

·         Trees and Landscaping

·         Ecology

 

12. outlined the responses made to the consultation exercise

 

13. referred to the Update sheet which included further representations received in respect of the proposed planning development and an additional proposed officer condition requiring the submission of an energy statement, subject to planning permission being granted

 

14. added that the Highways Authority had requested a Section 106 contribution of £500,000 as mitigation for removal of the footbridge, to provide improved walking and cycling infrastructure at this location, however, officers had concluded that the requested contribution did not meet the tests within NPPF (para 57) as highway users had alternative options comparable to the footbridge to cross Melville Street

 

15. reported that an S106 contribution towards additional electric car charging facilities (EVC) at Central Car Park was requested for use of guests using the hotel, which did not have on-site parking

 

16. concluded that:

 

·         It was considered that the proposed hotel would help meet the need for visitor accommodation in the city centre, and provide wider public benefits through improvements to public realm and increased activity to Melville Street, investment within the city and contributing to the vitality and viability of the city centre.

·         The revised scheme as shown on the indicative plans would be an enhancement to the street scene by developing this gap site and removing the pedestrian footbridge over Melville Street, to the benefit of the character and appearance of the conservation area.

·         Revisions to the proposal had secured improvements including maintaining views of the Cathedral and the historic hillside and replacement planting of trees.

·         The proposed outline application for the principle of the development of the site for a hotel was therefore considered to be in accordance with both local and national planning policy.

 

The Committee discussed the content of the report in further detail.

 

The following comments were received from members:

 

·         It was pleasing to see the great effort taken during pre-application discussions and the planning process to reduce massing and site lines of the Cathedral.

·         More trees would be planted to replace those lost.

·         The loss of the footbridge would provide access issues. There was no detail in the report on mitigation measures to address this.

·         The Highways Authority had approved removal of the footbridge asking for £500,000 in mitigation of this.

·         Officers had worked at an outstanding level to make the scheme viable.

·         There were bus/train and car parking facilities close by.

·         There were already several places to cross the road when the footbridge was removed.

·         Public safety was important during the removal of the bridge.

·         This would be a great quality asset for this gateway to the City should reserved matters for the hotel be granted.

·         It was pleasing to see EVC points would be installed in the Central Car Park.

·         It was hopeful there would be a green wall fronting the hotel onto Broadgate. An extra condition was desirable to encourage the developer to do this.

·         The Highways Authority may take a different view on the demolition of the bridge should an s106 payment fail to be awarded.

·         Provision of solar panels in aspiration for a greener net zero carbon development was desirable.

·         It was good to see the Highways Authority had made comments on the outline planning application.

·         More hotels were needed in the City.

·         This development would revive an unloved corner of our City.

·         Mature replacement trees would be preferred higher than 2 metre specimens.

·         The footbridge would not be missed. Had a pedestrian count on its usage been undertaken?

·         As part of the Lincolnshire Transport Strategy it was hoped the carriageways would be improved/become calmer.

·         The footbridge was originally built to serve pedestrian traffic on Waterside South cycling/walking to multiple engineering businesses.

 

The Assistant Director of Planning offered the following points of clarification to members:

 

·         There was a proposal for a residential scheme adjacent to the application site, however, as yet it was not at a stage to be considered by Planning Committee.

·         Regarding the request from the Highway Authority for an S106 contribution of £500,000 as mitigation for removal of the footbridge, officer advice was that it did not meet the tests of necessity and should not be pursued as part of the recommendation to grant planning permission.

·         Climate change agenda – Should members be so minded, an additional condition could be added to the proposed grant of planning permission to cover energy conservation within the development, to include measures such as insulation, solar panels on the roof and associated schemes in line with requirements referred to in the Local Plan.

·         The decision to be considered by members this evening was whether outline planning permission should be granted for the proposed development. The footbridge was in the ownership of Lincolnshire County Council. Its removal was covered under separate legislation.

·         A landscaping condition could be included at Reserved Matters stage regarding energy conservation and replanting of heavy standard tree for specimens.

·         The proposals included a significant uplift in the number of trees in the scheme as they stood and lower level landscaping in the interests of visual/environmental and biodiversity considerations.

·         A survey undertaken on the numbers crossing the bridge showed that it was not well used. The Highways Authority had not disputed this.

 

Members complimented officers on their valuable work on the production of the Local Plan.

 

RESOLVED that outline planning permission be granted, subject to the signing of a section 106 for the provision of electric vehicle charging points within the adjacent Central Car Park.

 

Standard Conditions

 

1)         The development to which this permission relates shall not be commenced until details of the following (hereinafter referred to as the "reserved matters") have been submitted to and approved by the Local Planning Authority.

 

            (a)  The layout of the Building(s)

            (b)  The scale of the building(s), including the height, massing and internal planning.

            (c)  The external appearance of the building(s), to include details of all external materials to be used, their colours and textures.

            (d)  Means of access to, and service roads for the development, including road widths, radii and sight lines, space for the loading, unloading and manoeuvring and turning of service vehicles and their parking; space for car parking and manoeuvring.

            (e)  A scheme of landscaping for those parts of the site not covered by buildings to include surface treatments, walls, fences, or other means of enclosure, including materials, indications of all existing trees and hedgerows on the land, and details of any to be retained, together with measures for their protection in the course of development.

 

2)         Application for the approval of the reserved matters shall be made to the local planning authority within three years of the date of this permission.

 

3)         The development hereby permitted shall be begun either within three years of the date of this permission or within two years of the date of approval of the last of the reserved matters to be approved, whichever is the later.

 

4)        Bat survey prior to demolition of the building on the site

 

5)         Fume Extraction

 

6)        Noise report for both the generation of noise and effect of adjacent noise on the building

 

7)        Standard Preliminary Risk Assessment for Land Contamination

 

8)        ArchaeologicaI WSI to be submitted with the Reserved Matters application

 

9)        Construction Environmental Management Plan

 

10)      Details of a surface water drainage scheme

 

11)      Details of Energy Statement condition

 

12)      Landscaping condition to include replanting of ‘heavy’ standard trees