Agenda item

To consider a report of the Chief Planning Officer in respect of the following:

Application 14/01216/FU

Position statement for the Manston Lane Link Road (North-South) route

Application 14/02406/COND

Discharge of condition application for determination – revised masterplan relating to the approved application (12/03886/OT) for a major mixed used development at Thorpe Park on land between Barrowby Lane and Manston Lane LS15

Application 14/02488/FU

Detailed application for determination - B1office building at Thorpe Park (Surgical Innovations Building) on land off Park Approach Thorpe Park Business Park, Century Way/J46 M1 motorway LS15

(report attached)

  Further to the meetings of City Plans Panel held on 19^th and 26^th September 2013, where Panel approved the outline application for a major retail-led development at Thorpe Park, the Panel considered a report setting out further applications on elements of the proposals

  Plans and graphics were displayed at the meeting

  Officers presented the report and informed Members that further work had been undertaken on the layout of the scheme and that the foodstore plot was now located more centrally which had led to changes to the road alignment with the number of junctions on the road now being reduced.  The Manston Lane Link Road (MLLR) had been relocated further east onto Brown Moor and two underpasses had been able to be removed

  The introduction of a medi-park was now a feature of the wider scheme, with the proposals for a new office building for Surgical Innovations being an anchor to attract further tenants and create more local employment

  An Officer from Highways Development advised the Panel that the changes to the MLLR were supported and that the reduction in the number of roundabouts would help this to become a strategic route and divert traffic away from Cross Gates.  The speed limit for this part of the MLLR was still being discussed with Highways Officers of the view this should be set at a maximum of 40 mph

  In respect of the full application for the Surgical Innovations building, this would provide 6000sqm of space in two storeys; that the intention was to start work on this building in 2014 and that the S106 for this application would link back to the S106 for Thorpe Park, so there would be triggers in respect of Green Park and local employment

  Members discussed the report with the key issues relating to:

·  the speed limit for the MLLR at this location

·  the need to retain land for a possible railway station

·  the strategic importance of the highway infrastructure particularly in view of the number of planning applications which would depend upon the MLLR and ELOR being in place

·  design issues of the Surgical Innovations building

In response to the specific questions raised in the report, the Panel

provided the following responses:

·  that Members were supportive of the revised alignment and junction arrangements of the north-south section of the MLLR

·  regarding the implications of the potential number of lanes on the east-west link into Thorpe Park and the potential change to the design speed, to note the reduction in the total width of the highway and that further work was being undertaken to consider if a dual carriage way was required and that these matters should be left to the technical experts to resolve in conjunction with Ward Members as appropriate

RESOLVED –

Application 14/01216/FU – to note the report and comments now made

and to defer and delegate the application to the Chief Planning Officer, in consultation with Ward Members and in the event of major concerns remaining,  including those of Ward Members, that a further report be submitted to Panel for determination of the application

  Application 14/02406/COND  - to defer and delegate approval of the discharge of condition 5 application for the revised masterplan to the Chief Planning Officer subject to addressing any issues raised by Members

  Application 14/02488/FU  to defer and delegate to the Chief Planning Officer subject to addressing all outstanding issues including issues raised by Members, the imposition of the necessary conditions and the completion of a legal agreement that links the development to the main Thorpe Park S106