Agenda and minutes

To note any apologies for absence and substitutions.

There were none.

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 5 April 2023.

It was proposed to agree the minutes subject to the amendment of a typographical error under item 7. The applicant, Mr Scholar, was referred to in error as “Mr Barratt”.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 April 2023 were agreed as a true and correct record subject to the amendment of references to Mr Barratt being changed to Mr Scholar.

To share site visit details and note site visit attendance.

The following Committee members attended site visits prior to the Committee meeting:

Councillors Ball, Brett, Martin, Padda, Sahota, Wall, Young, Iqbal and Khan.

Wade Banks, Planning Officer, introduced the report and explained that the application before the Committee was for the partial demolition, refurbishment and development of the site to provide an office-led mixed-use scheme comprising buildings between 2 and 21 stories at 9-42 The Broadway and 1-4 Haven Place in Ealing town centre. The scheme included flexible uses for retail, restaurants and cafes as well as a new pedestrian route connecting the Broadway with Ealing Broadway Station.

The site is located in central Ealing, bounded by trainlines to the north and Haven Place beyond, Ealing Broadway shopping centre to the south and The Broadway to the east and south. There is a pedestrian walkway running along western and northern edges of the site called Haven Place. The site is covered by several designations, including as the Ealing Town Centre Conservation Area and Ealing Metropolitan Town Centre.

The scheme proposed a 21-storey tower as part of its “Broadway Connection Building”. The height of this building was one of the main concerns raised during consultation. Whilst officers acknowledged that there was going to be a level of harm caused to local heritage assets and the local environment by the buildings, officers considered that the harm was going to be less than substantial. In relation to the impact of the tall building and to the development more widely, Mr Banks noted the public regeneration benefits which the proposal was going to bring and informed the Committee that it was the opinion of officers that these benefits outbalanced the harm to the heritage assets. Amongst the public benefits outlined, Mr Banks noted the economic benefits of the new provision of office space, the intensification of the brownfield site and the creation of a new public space and route through the site.

Overall, it was officers’ opinion that the concerns raised about the proposal during the consultation and the harms identified to heritage assets were outweighed by the benefits of the scheme. The application was recommended for granting, subject to conditions, satisfactory completion of a Section 106 legal agreement and a Stage 2 referral to the Mayor of London.

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 additional conditions and additional representations.

The Chair exercised his discretion and informed the Committee that an extension to usual speaking time of 3 minutes each for objectors and applicants had been extended to 5 minutes due to other applications in the area having also had extensions to speaking time at Committee. The Chair confirmed that the 2 objectors were required to split the 5 minutes speaking time.

Geoffrey Payne, an objector to the development, made his representation to the Committee for 3 of the 5 minutes allocated to objectors. His representation included the followed key points:

• Whilst the council might benefit from revenues through the business rates of such office led developments, such revenue was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 9 May 2023.

The next meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, 7 June 2023.