Agenda item
153-157 Commercial Road, London, E1 2DA (PA/12/01133)
- Meeting of Development Committee, Wednesday, 10th October, 2012 7.00 p.m. (Item 7.1)
- View the background to item 7.1
Decision:
Update Report tabled.
On a vote of 4 in favour and 1 against, the Committee RESOLVED:
1. That planning permission (PA/12/01133) at 153-157 Commercial Road, London, E1 2DA be GRANTED for the change of use of an office block to a secondary school (Use Class D1) subject to:
2. The prior completion of a legal agreementto secure the planning obligations set out in the report.
3. That the Corporate Director Development & Renewal is delegated authority to negotiate the legal agreement indicated above.
4. That the Corporate Director Development & Renewal is delegated authority to recommend conditions and informatives in relation to the matters set out in the report.
5. That if, within three months of the date of this committee the legal agreement has not been completed, the Corporate Director of Development & Renewal is delegated power to refuse planning permission.
Minutes:
Update Report tabled.
Jerry Bell (Applications Team Leader) introduced the report at 153-157 Commercial Road, London, E1 2DA for the change of use of an office block to a secondary school (Wapping Free School)
The Chair referred to some late written information submitted shortly before the meeting. He reported that as it had not been sent in by the required deadline, he could not accept the information.
The Chair invited the registered speakers to address the meeting.
Jamal Hussain spoke in objection to the scheme. He objected to the impact on the highway. The scheme would restrict traffic flow; increase pedestrian and parking congestion from drop offs/pick ups to the detriment of residents. There was a lack of parking in the area. He feared that the area would become more dangerous for students and residents. He referred to data personally collated of use of the Commercial Road and New Road. This showed that the roads and the junction were already heavily congested at peak times. The plans would worsen this. 100 people had objected to the scheme and only 8 supported it. He considered it premature to implement the scheme without the conditions in place first. There was a lack of evidence supporting the need for an additional secondary school in the area given the number and proximity of similar schools in the area.
In reply to Members about accidents on the two roads, (Commercial Road and New Road) he reported that over the last 3 years, 30 accidents had been registered with many more unregistered accidents in his opinion. In relation to the consultation with the applicant, the objectors did put their objections to them and the applicant did make changes in light of these. However he felt that they were purely done to appease them and were unsatisfactory. The pavement around the school was fairly narrow with very little room to walk. Congestion would easily build up at peak times to unacceptable levels.
Suroth Miah spoke in objection highlighting the lack of support for the scheme as shown by the local consultation. He objected to the impact on the New Road from the comings and goings. The road was one of the busiest roads in the Borough and provided access to A roads. It already carried about 700 people per hour as shown by the objectors study. The entrance to Commercial Road was similarly as busy. The reality from the nearby schools was that students were frequently dropped off/picked up by car contrary to the report. The Council’s Environmental Team had concerns about the proposal and so did the LBTH Children’s Services Directorate. An alternative site should be looked at. He urged Members to take into account the residents opposition and refuse the scheme.
The Chair clarified that the LBTH Children’s Services Directorate had not objected to the scheme.
Councillor Shahid Ali spoke against the scheme. He stated that he was speaking on behalf of other ward Councillors. The site lacked the essential qualities needed for a school: a play ground, a quite location with quiet roads. The junction and roads with the narrow pavement already gets very congested with pedestrians crossing. The addition of 500 plus pedestrians at these points would be a major hazard. The Environmental Health Team opposed the scheme. The Wapping School should work with the community to find a better scheme, as they opposed this one.
Paul Guenault, the Head Teacher of the Wapping High School spoke in support. He explained the extensive consultation carried out by the applicant with the community since 2010. They had sent letters to residents, held door step discussions and invited the local residents and the residents association to consultation meetings. The applicant had fully considered and addressed the objections. He explained the measures to mitigate the impact on highways. The start time for pupils would be staggered, the school would open early at 7:30am to allow early entrance and would have foyers to prevent students waiting outside. There would be staff outside to manage entrances and exits. In addition, the facilities would be available for community use. In his experience, the vast majority of secondary school pupils travelled to school independently on foot or on cycles. The staff could only travel by public transport or on foot. He had recently held a parents evening where there was strong interest in the school places from the local families from a mix of backgrounds.
In reply to Members, he reported that the students would be required to remain on site all day. However they would have no need to leave due to the self sufficient facilities on site. All bar one of his current year 7 students came from the Borough, based on a post code analysis. He expressed confidence that the majority of the new schools pupils would be local judging by the number of local families at the parents evening. Students did not normally tend to congregate outside and would not need to in this case given the early opening hours. The accident rate on the nearby junction was relatively low compared to statistics from further up Commercial Road.
In relation to the roof play space, the Council’s experts considered that the noise levels were acceptable. There were many examples of successful and safe roof top playgrounds with similar fencing. The quality of the environment and air would be very high. The school would encourage afterschool events to further stagger leaving times. Entrances and exists would be carefully managed by the School Travel Plan. It was intended that the school would work with local sports partners to allow pupils to use their sports facilities such as pitches.
Nick Evans also spoke in support as the architect for the scheme. He stated that he was a local resident and a leading member of a community charity. He stated that the proposed facilities would be available for community use; underlined that the applicant had undertaken its own consultation with individual hand delivered letters and door step consultation.
The design complied with standards, provided facilities to cover the lack of outdoor space, mitigation to control impact on highway. He clarified that the normal school bulletin didn’t apply to this school. Therefore permission should be granted.
Councillor Denise Jones also spoke in support as a St Katherine’s & Wapping Councillor. She stated that the Council’s Children Services and the Governors of the Mulberry School supported the scheme. There were other schools in the area successfully operating in similar circumstances from this stretch of road. It was a small school so the traffic would be minimal. There was a lack of school places in the area with parents often disappointed not to receive first choice places so this was needed.
Richard Murrell (Planning Officer) presented the detailed report and the update. He explained in detail the proposal, the site location and surrounding area. Commercial Road was a designated red route. Apart from this, there were no other designations. He explained the features of the school including, the hours, the stepped increase in pupil numbers to 2016, the proposed facilities, the access, service and refuse plans and potential for community use.
He explained the outcome of the consultation and the planning issues. The loss of the existing office use was acceptable. The policy strongly supported the provision of new schools and stated that they should only be refused where there are major negative impacts that cannot be addressed.
He addressed one of the main concerns about highway impact.
The application was accompanied by a School Travel Plan. The Highways Team and TfL were satisfied with the proposals subject to the conditions. It was evident from the transport assessment based on a typical school in the Borough, that the majority of journeys to schools were by foot. Given this and the mitigation (the staggered drop off/pick up times, waiting lobbies for pupils, the red route restriction) it was not considered that the scheme would have an undue impact on the highway or pedestrian movements and safety. The junction benefited from a safe pedestrian crossing. The 20 reported accidents were mainly due to human error according to the research.
Ofsted had recently carried out a pre-opening expectation of the school and were satisfied with all the facilities and that they met the required standards. The separation distances were acceptable with no loss of privacy. The noise from the roof play space was acceptable as shown by the noise assessment to be at a level lower than background noise.
Given the merits and the policy support and lack of highway impact, the scheme should be granted permission.
In reply to Members, Mr Murrell explained the location of the roof top play space. It would be fully secured. Regarding the impact on buses, he explained that TFL did receive the full impact assessment and were satisfied with the scheme. They did not request a contribution for buses.
In relation to Commercial Road, he expressed confidence the footpath could accommodate the increase in pedestrians (for the reasons explained above) and the width of the pavement. The application had been accompanied by a noise assessment and met the relevant requirements for free schools.
On a vote of 4 in favour and 1 against, the Committee RESOLVED:
1. That planning permission (PA/12/01133) at 153-157 Commercial Road, London, E1 2DA be GRANTED for the change of use of an office block to a secondary school (Use Class D1) subject to:
2. The prior completion of a legal agreementto secure the planning obligations set out in the report.
3. That the Corporate Director Development & Renewal is delegated authority to negotiate the legal agreement indicated above.
4. That the Corporate Director Development & Renewal is delegated authority to recommend conditions and informatives in relation to the matters set out in the report.
5. That if, within three months of the date of this committee the legal agreement has not been completed, the Corporate Director of Development & Renewal is delegated power to refuse planning permission.
Supporting documents:
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FINAL PA-12-1133 Wapping Free School 153-157 Commercial Road Committee Report v2, item 7.1
PDF 185 KB
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Committee Map, item 7.1
PDF 1 MB