Agenda item
Reardon & Lowder Houses, Reardon Street & Wapping Lane, London, E1W (PA/18/03541)
Minutes:
An update report was tabled.
The Area Planning Manager (East) introduced the report which concerned a proposal to demolish existing lock-up garages at the junction of Reardon & Lowder Houses, London, E1W and construct 18 self-contained dwellings in the form of a new part-four part-six storey residential building with associated enhancements.
The Planning Case Officer outlined the details of the application informing Members that the proposal would provide 18 rented units 50% of which would be offered at London Affordable Rents and 50% at Tower Hamlets Living Rents. The development would:
· incur the loss of one tree which had no protected characteristics; 3 trees would replace the one lost.
· be car-free; however existing parking spaces would be retained.
· deliver acceptable daylight/sunlight impacts. However where impacts had been indicated, these were assessed as negligible.
The Committee was informed that associated planning obligations would be delivered via conditions 17 and 18 which were outlined in the report.
The Committee noted a registration to speak on the application from Councillor Rachel Blake. She clarified that she had requested to speak in the capacity of Councillor and Cabinet Member with responsibility for delivering council housing. A late request to speak was also made by Ward Councillor Denise Jones.
At 7:23pm the Committee adjourned for a few minutes and received legal advice that the late request to speak, if granted, might impact negatively the applicant’s ability to respond to issues raised and might negatively affect the decision to be made. The meeting reconvened and the Chair advised that he had exercised his discretion to permit the Councillors to make a submission.
Councillor Jones addressed the Committee and set out the following matters:
· concerns around daylight/sunlight impacts had been raised by some residents. In particular flats 13-50 were adversely affected. Additionally there had been no skyline assessment.
· a resident had offered access for a daylight/sunlight assessment at her property but this had not been taken up. In this context the Committee was asked to consider if satisfactory measures had been taken to assess the impacts on existing properties.
The Committee then heard from Councillor Blake who asked Members to consider the following matters:
· all dwellings proposed in the development would be as social or living rents.
· the proposed play space provision was greater that policy requirements.
· the daylight/sunlight assessments had been thorough.
· there had pre-application consultation as well as statutory consultation. Concerns raised by residents at these times had been taken into account.
· Members were asked consider their decision in the context of material planning considerations of the scheme and the need for affordable housing in the borough
Following this submission, Councillor Blake withdrew from the meeting.
The Committee noted its decision was required to be made on balance of the mitigation of the benefits of the scheme against any negative elements that the scheme might incur. Members were referred to paragraph 7.95 of the report which provided an assessment of the impact of the proposed development on the neighbouring properties. The Committee also noted the advice of the Legal Advisor that in reaching a decision, the Members must be satisfied that have all the information that they feel necessary to make their decision or decide if further information was necessary. To assist Members in respect to the daylight/sunlight assessment, consultants with daylight/sunlight expertise were in attendance to provide clarification in respect of their daylight/sunlight questions. Members were advised by the Area Planning Manager (East) that a thorough daylight/sunlight assessment had been undertaken and comprehensive information provided.
The Committee then asked questions of the Planning Case Officer and with the assistance of the consultant from BRE the following additional information was provided:
- ‘no sky line’ (NSL) tests had not been carried out and offers of assessing properties had not been taken up as no floor plan had been available therefore daylight/sunlight assessments had formed the basis for assessing impacts. However new developments had lower NSL impacts.
- in respect of NSL impacts, the factors influencing NSL values were those directly facing a property that could be impacted by a development.
The Committee then debated the proposal noting that it was not practical to undertake exhaustive assessments of all potential impacts of a development; however most Members were satisfied that a thorough assessment had been carried out and broad data had been provided on which the Committee could assess daylight/sunlight impacts.
The Chair moved and on a vote of 4 in favour and 1 against, the Committee RESOLVED that:
That planning permission be GRANTED at Reardon & Lowder Houses, Reardon Street & Wapping Lane, London, E1W for demolition of existing lock-up garages, construction of new part-four part-six storey residential building containing 18 self-contained dwellings, with associated covered parking, hard & soft landscaping, and enhancements to existing estate garden subject to conditions and informatives.
Supporting documents: