Agenda and minutes

To note any apologies for absence and substitutions.

Apologies were received from Councillor Mahmood with no 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, 18 January 2023.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting on Wednesday, 18 January 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 attended site visits prior to the Committee:

Councillors Wall, Martin, Padda, Hamidi, Iqbal, Kelly, Shaw, Gordon and Summers.

Chris Maltby, Planning Officer, introduced the item and explained that the application before the Committee was for Reserved Matters Approval for the first phase of development of Middlesex Business Centre. Outline consent for the development was granted in November 2019, and it outlined a mixed-use redevelopment which compromised the demolition of most of the existing buildings on the site and their replacement with a mix of residential units, hotel floor space, flexible office space, flexible retail space and community floor space. Mr Maltby noted that the Margarine works Factory façade, and the Sunrise Radio building were not going to be demolished. The outline permission also included the proposed Maypole Park.

The wider Middlesex Business Centre site was 4.82 he in size and was located off the north-eastern end of Merrick Road. Its southern boundary bordered Bridge Road, its northern boundary was with the overground railway and its eastern boundary was with the former Honey Monster Factory development site. From the boundary with Merrick Road, Southall Station was approximately 300 metres to the east. The site was approximately 700m from Southall Town Centre, which was designated as a “Major” Centre in the London Plan.

Mr Maltby continued to detail the reserved matters application which was before the Committee for their determination. The application related to Plots A and B of the development, located in the northern part of the wider site. The reserved matters included approval of layout, access (within the site), scale, appearance, and landscaping. This phase was going to deliver 867 dwellings (of which 282 were going to be affordable), a new internal road network with integrated cycle lanes, bus stops, service bays, extensive shared amenity spaces, dedicated play spaces, a 180-bedroom hotel and a variety of units for commercial uses.

In addition to the above developments, the proposals were also going to bring forward the first tranche of benefits secured by the Section 106 Legal Agreement agreed as part of the outline permission. In addition to a community infrastructure levy, this phase was going to trigger funding of £6.13 million to be used towards key transport infrastructure, bus service improvements, education, healthcare and nearby parks and open spaces.

In light of the considerations he had set out, Mr Maltby informed the Committee that it was the opinion of officers that the proposals were going to provide a significant economic boost for Southall and bring what had been a long term underutilised site back into productive use. The application was therefore recommended for approval, subject to the conditions set out in Annex 1 of the committee report.

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. It had provided information on corrections and clarifications to the report, further written representations and amendments to the proposed conditions.

Kerry Harrison, an objector to the development, made a representation to the Committee which included the following key points:

·       The new buildings were going  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The next meeting will be held on 5 April 2023.

The date of the next meeting was Wednesday, 5 April 2023.