Agenda item
20/0700 - Land adjacent to Northwick Park Hospital, Nightingale Avenue, London, HA1
Decision:
Granted planning permission subject to Stage 2 referral to the Mayor of London, s106 agreement and conditions and informatives as set out in the report.
Minutes:
PROPOSAL:
Outline planning permission (with all matters reserved apart from the means of access) for demolition of existing buildings on site and provision of up to 1,600 homes and up to 51,749 sqm (GIA) of new land use floorspace within a series of buildings, with the maximum quantum as follows:
· (Use Class C3) Residential: up to 1,600 homes
· Up to 50,150m2 floor space (GIA) of new student facilities including Student Accommodation, Teaching facilities, Sports facilities, and ancillary retail and commercial (Use Class A1, A2, A3)
· Up to 412sqm floorspace (GIA) of a replacement nursery (Use Class D1)
· Up to 1187sqm (GIA) of flexible new retail space (Use Class A1, A2, A3).
Together with an energy centre, hard and soft landscaping, open space and associated highways improvements and infrastructure works.
This application is
subject to an Environmental Statement.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the Committee resolve to GRANT planning permission subject to stage 2 referral to the Mayor of London and the prior completion of a legal agreement to secure the planning obligations set out within the report.
That the Head of Planning is delegated authority to negotiate the legal agreement as set out in the report.
That the Head of Planning is delegated authority to issue the planning permission and impose the conditions and informatives to secure the matters set out within the report.
June Taylor, Principal Planning Officer introduced the report, set out the key issues and answered members’ questions. She highlighted that the application was made on behalf of Northwick Park Partnership, which comprised Network Homes, the University of Westminster, Brent Council and the NHS Trust who were working together to redevelop the site. The application related to the overall masterplan for this site but there were a number of other applications that were complementary to the site and would be linked together through s106 agreements.
In reference to the supplementary report, the Principal Planning Officer drew members’ attention to the following points:
· Planning obligation no 10 had been removed from the Heads of Terms.
· Further representations had been received from Sudbury Court Residents Association since the publication of the main report.
· There had been a point of clarification regarding affordable housing and housing mix on paragraph 76 of the main report.
· Further representations had been received from Brent Cycling Campaign and Harrow Cyclists since the publication of the supplementary report regarding sustainable transport and cycling layouts.
Mark Connell, the agent, then addressed the Committee and made the following points:
· The application was for up to 1,600 homes and over 50,000 square metres of facilities for the expansion of the University of Westminster all set within new areas of open spaces, public realm and improved infrastructure.
· A design code had been submitted to ensure a high standard of future reserved matters submissions, and all homes meet or exceed space standards.
· The parameters of the outline application ensured no less than 40% affordable housing would be delivered across the site.
· The construction phase would directly support 635 jobs and once operational the development would support a further 440 jobs. The estimated CIL funding arising from the scheme would be around £15 million.
In response to questions from members, Mark Connell made the following points:
· Green roofing and solar panels would be installed and were stipulated by the design code.
· Construction traffic into the site would be from Watford Road only, and there would be no vehicular access into the site from the residential roads to the south of Northwick Park.
In the ensuing discussion, members raised several issues including the loss of green space and biodiversity, the loss of community space, increased traffic and parking demand, green infrastructure, fire safety and affordable housing and housing mix. Officers clarified a number of key points including:
· The removal of trees and disturbance caused by construction work would be mitigated by new tree planting. The loss of any meadow area would be compensated for by offsite biodiversity measures and there would be an increase in the provision of green infrastructure on site.
· Whilst there was no explicit commitment to provide additional community floorspace within the application site, demand for community floorspace may emerge at a later stage and a detailed assessment of such demand would be undertaken if required.
· It was proposed that the applicant would submit a Construction Environmental Management Plan prior to the commencement of construction to avoid, minimise or mitigate effects on the environment. The applicant also would be subject to the requirements of protected species legislation.
· The application would facilitate an expansion of University of Westminster Harrow Campus that would in turn provide new sporting and leisure facilities that would also be made available for local community use. It was also proposed that Northwick Park pavilion be refurbished which would provide benefits to existing local communities.
· Brent Cycling Campaign had reservations about the cycle layout on the spine road. It had requested for the cycle lane be segregated, but officers did not deem this to be feasible. It had also requested that the crossing over the north and south entry roads be a single crossing, but officers considered this would increase traffic queueing times and congestion.
· Planning obligation No 10 had been removed as it was not deemed necessary or reasonable to secure it through the consent (if granted) as permission had been granted for the new hospital energy centre and the delivery of this centre was being driven by the NHS. The applicant had also advised that there was a separate lease agreement between the NHS Trust and Network Homes governing this which obligated the NHS to deliver the new energy centre before 2023.
· There was only one tree of high quality on site which would need to be removed to allow for junction improvements on Watford Road. New tree planting would see a substantial increase in the number of trees on site, which were expected to contribute more to carbon capture over the medium-term.
· Prior to the commencement of works on any building or Phase, a Fire Strategy relevant to that building or Phase would need to be submitted and approved by the local authority. The requirements of the Fire Strategy would need to be in compliance with Policy D12 of the London Plan and Part B of the Building Regulations.
· Northwick Park health services would not be negatively impacted by the population growth in the area, as identified through the Local Plan process.
· It had been demonstrated that the scheme would deliver the maximum reasonable number of affordable homes on a policy compliant basis, but with additional affordable homes delivered, lowering the levels of profit associated with the scheme. These would be delivered as intermediate rented homes, London Living Rent homes and shared ownership homes, and would including housing for NHS keyworkers.
Councillor Sangani expressed a pecuniary interest in the application as she was an employee of the NHS (the applicant). As such, she advised that she would not participate in the vote.
Councillor Maurice advised that he had lost connection to the meeting during the members’ discussion. Having been updated by officers on the discussion he had missed, he advised that he would participate in the vote.
With no further issues raised and having established that all members had followed the discussions, the Chair thanked all speakers for their contributions and asked members to vote on the recommendation. Members voted unanimously to approve the application.
DECISION: Granted planning permission subject to Stage 2 referral to the Mayor of London, s106 agreement and conditions and informatives as set out in the report.
(Voting on the recommendation was as follows: For 7, Against 0)
Supporting documents:
- 3. 20/0700 - Land adjacent to Northwick Park Hospital, Nightingale Avenue, London, HA1, item 3. PDF 700 KB
- 3a. 20/0700 - Land adjacent to Northwick Park Hospital, Nightingale Avenue, London, HA1, item 3. PDF 112 KB