Agenda item
Palace of Arts & Palace of Industry Site, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0ES (Ref. 09/2450 )
Minutes:
Erection of a part eight-storey and part ten-storey Brent Council Civic Centre building, comprising office space (Use Class B1), community and performance space (Use Class D1 and D2, including library, Registrars Office, Community Hall and Council Chamber), Use Class A1/A2/B1 floorspace at ground floor level, a cafe (Use Class A3), wedding garden and a winter garden area, with provision of 158 car-parking spaces, 250 bicycle-parking spaces and 32 motorcycle-parking spaces in basement, and associated landscaping to site.
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OFFICER RECOMMENDATION: Grant planning permission subject to conditions and informatives.
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The Area Planning Manager, Neil McClellan started by saying that the applicant had submitted revised drawings in response to CABE Design Review Panel and officers’ enquiries on a number of areas including an “Energy & Sustainability Q&A” sheet details of which were set out in the tabled supplementary report. The responses were considered appropriate. In respect of members’ enquiry about flood risk measures, he stated that although a number of measures to reduce flood risk had been incorporated, the Environment Agency had confirmed that as the site was below 1 hectare in size the statutory referral of the application to the Agency was not required. Members noted that the disabled parking proposed was in accordance with the Council's standards and was considered appropriate by the GLA/TfL. In respect of concerns about the location of fuel deliveries in Engineers Way, the Area Planning Manager submitted that this would be secured through the “Delivery and Servicing Management Plan” and recommended that an additional condition be added regarding the treatment of the footway/highway if fuel deliveries were required within the Engineers Way frontage. He then referred to a number of comments made by Wembley National Stadium Limited and officers’ responses to them as set out in the tabled supplementary report. The Area Planning Manager also drew members’ attention to a number of additional and amended conditions and the deletion of condition 21 as set out in the supplementary report.
Dr Sharah Ali objected to the proposed development on the grounds that the Council had not adequately consulted with all residents within the Borough. He added that the feasibility study into the project had never been placed in the public domain to enable residents of the Borough to ascertain the cost implications and whether there was widespread acceptance of a new Civic Centre for Brent. Dr Ali urged members to defer the application until the issues he had raised had been addressed.
Mr Gareth Daniel Chief Executive of Brent Council speaking on behalf of the applicant started by saying that the proposal was a culmination of eight years worth of work and numerous consultations including reports to the Council’s Executive meetings which were open to the press and public. He continued that the proposed building had been designed in partnership with experts in the field with sustainability measures receiving a top priority. He also emphasised the beneficial impact of the proposal on the regeneration of Wembley. In endorsing the recommendation for approval, Gareth Daniel added that the proposal was an integral part of the Council’s overall business plan to deliver better quality services by enabling the Council to vacate its inefficient buildings with considerable cost savings.
DECISION: Planning permission granted subject to conditions including an additional condition 27, as amended in conditions 10, 11 and 23, the removal of condition 21 and informatives.. |
Supporting documents:
- 13, Palce of Arts & Ind. site, Engineers Way, Wembley HA9 0ES, item 13. PDF 6 MB
- Supplementary Palace of Arts & Industry, item 13. PDF 82 KB