Agenda item

Prior to officer’s presentation for this item, there was a short adjournment from 7.39pm to 7:42pm.

John Robertson, Planning Officer, introduced the report and explained that the application before the Committee was for a mainly residential redevelopment of a previously developed industrial site within the Metropolitan Green Belt. The site was located in Northolt and adjoined open land to the north, east and west, including Northala Fields and Marnham Fields.

Mr Robertson informed the Committee that the proposal constituted inappropriate development in the Green Belt. However, he explained that this was a brownfield site which had been allocated for residential-led development in the emerging local plan. Mr Robertson explained that it was the view of officers that a range of very special circumstances applied in the case of this proposal which, on balance, outweighed any harm to the Green Belt. Mr Robertson outlined the very special circumstances as follows. The proposal was going to provide:

·       110 units of market housing;

·       111 units of affordable housing;

·       0.5 ha of new, public open space;

·       improvements to public accessibilitiy, landscaping and connections between Northala Fields, Marnham Fields and the Grand Union Canal, supported by S106 financial contributions;

·       the refurbishment and re-use of Locally Listed Heritage Assets on the site;

·       remediation of a contaminated and unsightly site within the Green Belt;

·       a biodiversity net gain which would exceed the 10% policy requirement.

Mr Robertson gave further details about the application, including the height, design and layout of the proposal, officers’ consideration of the impact of the development on local infrastructure, and the proposed allocations of contributions through a Section 106 legal agreement.

Mr Robertson informed the committee that, overall, it was the opinion of officers that the proposal was going to provide a number of planning and regeneration benefits. In conjunction with the contributions secured through Community Infrastructure Levy payments and Section 106 legal agreement contributions, officers recommended conditional approval subject to Section 106 and 278 legal and highways agreements.

The Committee asked questions and debated the proposal. In response to some of the questions and points raised, officers confirmed that:

• Given there was a long history of industry on the site, it was likely there was contamination on the site. Mitigation against this concern had been secured by way of a condition to the recommended consent.
• The Section 106 legal agreement contribution towards improving parking in the area was likely to go towards investigating the suitability of a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) and if possible, starting on a consultation on the introduction of one. There was no guarantee that a CPZ would be implemented.
• £220,000 had been secured through Section 106 contributions which was going to allocated to improving the frequency of bus services from the site to the town centre. The exact nature of improvements to Northolt Town Centre was a matter which was going to be defined at a later stage.
• There had been a previous application on this site which had been rejected in November 2022. That decision had been appealed by the applicant.
• In addition to the very special circumstances noted in the officer’s report, the Committee was asked to take into account the non-availability of information from the Greater London Authority about the Council’s Housing Land Supply.
• It was the opinion of officers that the difference between the present scheme and the one which had been refused in 2022 a year prior was largely because the previous scheme had a much denser urban layout dominated by car parking and its design did not appear as in-keeping with a Green Belt location as the present scheme.
• Improvements to the locally listed building on the site included demolishing an extension which had been added and changing the use of the building to make it a café.

The Committee proceeded to vote on the application.

RESOLVED:

That for the reasons set out in the committee report, planning permission for application REF 231604FUL be GRANTED subject to:

1.     Successful resolution of Planning Conditions of Consent;

2.     Satisfactory completion of Section 106 and Section 278 Legal Agreements; and

3.     A Stage II referral to the Mayor of London