Agenda item

Further to minute 48 of the City Plans Panel meeting held on 13^th December 2012, where Panel considered a position statement in respect of an outline application to lay out access road and erect light industry, general industry and warehouse development (use classes B1C, B2 and B8), a 115 bed hotel and pub/restaurant with car parking, to consider the formal application which includes a smaller hotel use, at 90 bedrooms

(report attached)

  Further to minute 48 of the City Plans Panel meeting held on 13^th December 2012, where Panel considered a position statement for a mixed use development on land off Wakefield Road Gildersome LS27, Members considered a further report of the Chief Planning Officer setting out the formal application

  Plans, drawings and photographs were displayed at the meeting

  Officers presented the outline proposals for a mixed commercial and industrial development on land off Wakefield Road Gildersome LS27

  Members were informed that the scheme had been revised since it was last presented to Panel and that a smaller hotel – at 90 bedrooms - was proposed and that this had been achieved by reducing the footprint which also addressed some concerns which had been expressed about landscaping.  Unit 4 had also been set back by approximately 10m and the car park had been reduced to also increase the amount of landscaping within the scheme

  In terms of the principle of hotel use on the site, this had been considered and the applicant had carried out a sequential test.  Although other sequentially preferable sites had been considered these were either too small or not available.  Therefore Officers were satisfied on the principle of hotel use for this site

  Regarding access, Highways were now satisfied with the proposed junction although a Highways Agency Holding Direction remained in force until 30^th May 2013 in respect of the scope and cost of works at Junction 27.  Although the principle of the targets and penalties in the travel plan had been agreed, the latest version of the travel plan needed to be referred to Highways for consideration and if minded to approve the application, this could be attached to the S106 Agreement

  The full details of the landscaping scheme would be controlled by condition and a good scheme for the site would be essential

  In respect of public transport, it was clarified that the closest bus stop to the site was on Street Lane and that it was this stop that the public transport planning contribution would be spent on

  Minor typing errors in paragraphs 7.1, 10.3 and 10.4 of the submitted report were corrected

  Two letters of representation were reported.  One was from the resident at 69 Wakefield Road who had confirmed that an agreement had been reached with the applicant to carry out works to enable him to access his property with his caravan from the highway.  A letter had also been received from the resident at 73 Wakefield Road who had raised concerns about his access arrangements if the scheme was agreed

  If minded to approve the application, a further condition relating to sustainable construction was proposed

  Members discussed the application and commented on the following matters:

·  the principle of hotel use on the site

·  whether the Highways Agency had been consulted about the proposed warehouses

·  the high cost of the development; the filling in of a disused railway tunnel that crosses the site and the need for this in view of its historic value

·  the design of the pub/restaurant and the location of the car park in relation to this

·  whether there were other residents on Wakefield Road whose access arrangements could potentially be affected by the proposals

The following responses were provided:

·  that the Highways Agency had been consulted throughout the process and was satisfied with the proposals and the figure being provided for off-site highways works to the roundabout

·  that a ground condition survey had been carried out for a previous proposal on the site and this had recommended the railway tunnel be filled in for building stability reasons

·  that the application was in outline only but that the concerns regarding the position of the pub/restaurant car park in relation to the entrance to this building would be considered at reserved matters stage

·  that there were 6 properties off this access point.  In terms of the issue of manoeuvrability for the resident at 73 Wakefield Road, the Panel’s Highways representative would look into this

Panel considered how to proceed

RESOLVED – To approve the application in principle and to defer and

delegate approval to the Chief Planning Officer, subject to the conditions set out in the submitted report, plus an additional condition in respect of sustainable construction (and any others which he might consider appropriate) and the completion of a Section 106 Agreement to cover the following:

  Provision of a public transport contribution (£48,979)

  Contribution to off-site improvement works at Junction 27 (£44,971)

  Improvements to local bus stop (£10,000)

  Implementation of the travel plan (to be agreed) and monitoring fee

  Local employment opportunities

  Delivery of the physical infrastructure as set out and coloured blue and red on the additional plan circulated to Members

In the circumstances where the Section 106 has not been completed within 3 months of the resolution to grant planning permission, the final determination of the application shall be delegated to the Chief Planning Officer

  During consideration of this matter, Councillor P Gruen joined the meeting