Agenda and minutes

To note any apologies for absence and substitutions.

Apologies were received from Councillor Jon Ball and Councillor Gary Busuttil was present as his substitute.

To consider any urgent matters that the Chair has agreed should be considered at the meeting.

There were none.

To note any declarations of interest made by members.

There were none.

To determine whether items contain information that is exempt from disclosure by virtue of Part1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were none.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday, 23 November 2022.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting on Wednesday, 23 November 2023 were agreed as a true and correct record.

To share site visit details and note site visit attendance.

It was noted that the following members of the Committee had attended site visits prior to the meeting:

Councillors P Anand, Busuttil, Brett, Rice, Sahota, Wall, Kelly, Quansah, Shaw and Gordon

The Chair notified the Committee that this item had been withdrawn from the agenda after it was published.

Joel Holland, Planning Officer, introduced the report and explained that the application before the Committee was for hybrid planning permission for Phase 4 of the Green Man Lane Estate. The application sought full planning permission for the demolition of all buildings and the construction of new blocks ranging in height from 5 to 16 storeys as well as outline consent for the creation of a Community Use Space on land to the west of Romsey Road. The proposal was going to deliver a total of 183 affordable new homes, with a mix of types of housing including family housing. Whilst the proposal was going to result in a reduction of the number of units with social rent tenure, there was going to be an overall uplift in floorspace for social rent.

The application site had frontages to Singapore Road to the south and to Felix Road to the north. Earlier stages of the Green Man Lane development were located to the west of the site. Many of the existing buildings which were going to be demolished on the site itself dated back to the 1970s and the original Green Man Lane Estate. The site was in West Ealing and was within close proximity to good transport links and local amenities. Mr Holland noted some of the local heritage assets which had been considered as part of impact assessments of the proposals, and these included Ealing Green, Hanwell Cemeteries Conservation Area and the local heritage asset, Ealing Magistrates Court.

Mr Holland outlined some of the history of the redevelopment of Green Man Lane estate, including details of the original consent for regeneration in 2010. Whilst Mr Holland noted that the present application was proposing tall buildings higher than those set out in the 2010 consent, it was officers’ view that the scale of the development was consistent with the emerging character of the area, taking into consideration new and consented schemes since 2010. It was noted that the proposed development included buildings which fell within the definition of a tall building, as defined by the London Plan.

A briefing note in respect of the application had been produced by Planning Officers, circulated to the Committee and published on the Council’s website prior to the meeting. Details were given of amendments to the recommendation made in the original committee report. Mr Holland noted that the applicant had submitted amendments to their proposal after, firstly, the National Fire Chiefs Council had issued a policy statement that, in their opinion, all new residential tower blocks of at least 7 storeys (18m) should require more than one staircase, and, secondly, the Government had issued a consultation paper on introducing a threshold whereby residential buildings above 30m in height should be designed and built with 2 staircases. To demonstrate that such requirements could be met, the applicant had submitted drawings of how the application could be amended to include a second staircase in the proposed buildings over 30m on the site. Mr Holland noted that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, 1 March 2023.