DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE 18 FEBRUARY 2019

Case No: 18/01348/S73 (SECTION 73)

Proposal: VARIATION OF CONDITION 6/7/8 OF 16/00346/OUT - TO CHANGE ACCESS DETAILS TO SITE

Location: SONIA HOUSE, 47 OUNDLE ROAD, ALWALTON, PETERBOROUGH

Applicant: MR D SINGH

Grid Ref: 513135 295703

Date of Registration: 29.06.2018

Parish: ALWALTON

RECOMMENDATION - APPROVE

This application is reported to the Development Management Committee as Alwalton Parish Council’s recommendation of refusal is contrary to the officer recommendation of approval.

1. DESCRIPTION OF SITE AND APPLICATION

1.1 The 0.35ha site lies east of the A1 trunk road on the edge of the village of Alwalton and to the west of the Peterborough City Council administrative area. The site is predominantly bounded by fencing to the north, east and south and the partial hedge along the western boundary. The dwellings in the immediate area are predominantly semi-detached houses and modest bungalows. The rear gardens of dwellings lie north and east of the site.

1.2 The application seeks to vary conditions 6/7/8 of outline planning consent in order to change access details to the site. These conditions related to the width, visibility splays and surface of the previous access. The current application proposes a new access location onto Oundle Road Alwalton. The application has been amended since it was submitted and no longer seeks to vary any time limit conditions.

2. NATIONAL GUIDANCE

2.1 The National Planning Policy Framework (24th July 2018) (NPPF 2018) sets out the three economic, social and environmental objectives of the planning system to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. The NPPF confirms that ‘So sustainable development is pursued in a positive way, at the heart of the Framework is a presumption in favour of sustainable development. The NPPF sets out the Government's planning policies for: * delivering a sufficient supply of homes; * achieving well-designed places; * conserving and enhancing the natural environment; * conserving and enhancing the historic environment.

2.2 Whilst the NPPF 2018 has now been published and replaces the NPPF 2012, transitional arrangements are in place for authorities who have submitted Local Plans submissions prior to the 29 January 2019 and to ensure consistency, the 2012 framework policies will continue to be relevant. For clarity HDC submitted their Local Plan on 29 March 2018.

2.3 The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF 2012) sets out the three dimensions to sustainable development - an economic role, a social role and an environmental role - and outlines the presumption in favour of sustainable development. Under the heading of Delivering Sustainable Development, the Framework sets out the Government's planning policies for: * promoting sustainable transport; * delivering a wide choice of high quality homes; * requiring good design; * conserving and enhancing the natural environment; * conserving and enhancing the historic environment.

2.4 In this report, reference to both NPPF 2012 and 2018 from here-on referred to as ‘the NPPF’

2.5 Planning Practice Guidance

2.6 BS5837:2012 Trees in relation to design, demolition and construction.

For full details visit the government website https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities- and-local-government

3. PLANNING POLICIES

3.1 Saved policies from the Huntingdonshire Local Plan (1995) • R1: Promotion and monitoring of recreation leisure provision • R2: Assessment criteria for new recreation facilities • R3: Minimum recreation open space provision standards • R10: Allocations in villages • R13: Informal Countryside recreation • H31: Residential Privacy and amenity standards • T18: Access requirements for new development • T19: Pedestrian Routes and Footpath • T20: Cycle Routes • En20:Landscaping Scheme • EN25:General Design • CS8: Water • CS9: Flood Water Management

3.2 Adopted Huntingdonshire Local Development Framework Core Strategy (2009) • CS1: Sustainable development in Huntingdonshire • CS3: The Settlement Hierarchy • CS10: Contributions to Infrastructure requirements

3.3 Huntingdonshire's Local Plan to 2036: Proposed Submission 2017 • LP1: Amount of Development • LP2: Strategy for Development • LP5: Flood Risk • LP6: Waste Water Management • LP10: Small Settlements • LP11: The Countryside • LP12: Design Context • LP13: Design Implementation • LP15: Amenity • LP16: Surface Water • LP17: Sustainable Travel • LP18: Parking Provision and vehicle movement • LP23: Local Services and Facilities • LP25 Affordable Housing Provision • LP29: Community planning Proposals • LP33: Trees, Woodland, Hedges and Hedgerow. • LP36: Heritage Assets and their Settings

3.4 The LPA consider the Local Plan to 2036 to be a sound plan and it was submitted for examination on the 29th March 2018. Footnote 22 of NPPF 2018 states during the transitional period for emerging plans submitted for examination (set out in paragraph 214 of NPPF 2018), consistency should be tested against the previous Framework published in March 2012. The plan has therefore reached an advanced stage and is consistent with the policies set out within the NPPF 2012. Given the transitional arrangements in place it is considered that if there is any tension between emerging policies and NPPF 2018 the previous framework policies will prevail.

3.5 Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD) and Guidance: • Huntingdonshire Design Guide SPD (2017) • Huntingdonshire Townscape and Landscape Assessment SPD 2007 • Developer Contributions SPD 2011 • Cambridgeshire Flood and Water SPD 2017 • Huntingdonshire Tree Guidance Note 3 • December 2017 Annual Monitoring Review regarding housing land supply.

3.6 Local policies are viewable at https://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk

4. RELEVANT PLANNING HISTORY

4.1 16/00346/OUT - DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE IN PRINCIPLE FOR NO GREATER THAN 8 UNITS – Approved -1st July 2016

4.2 13001608FUL – Outline permission for 8 market dwellings with associated access, landscaping and parking, refused – 16th October 2013. The development was subsequently dismissed at an appeal due to the loss of the protected tree, impacts on the character of the area, and adverse impacts with regards to noise.

4.3 1201913FUL - Erection of six social and two shared ownership dwellings and associated access, landscaping and parking withdrawn March 2013

4.4 0700219FUL: Erection of dwelling and garage (amended scheme) PER 14.03.2007 (excluded residential development on enquiry site)

4.5 0603021FUL – Dwelling PER 15.11.2006 (excluded residential development on enquiry site)

4.6 0500301OUT - One dwelling PER 27.10.2005 (excluded residential development on enquiry site)

5. CONSULTATIONS

5.1 Alwalton Parish Council – Recommend Refusal – Comments summarised below: • Comments submitted for 2016 application about narrow access, no footpath, danger and risk to public, delivery and emergency vehicles would exacerbate problems. • Current application, meets minimum conditions set for private access road, Parish Council believe significant increase in traffic from South bound A1 through Alwalton endangers access • Highways England previously identified this exit from the A1 as an area for safety improvement due to queuing traffic. Proposed access will exacerbate issues • In previous application, Highways England imposed two conditions, this application should be subject to further monitoring. • Investment has previously encouraged better traffic flow, this could be interrupted by junction. • Vehicles often speed on this junction, further information should be requested. Following re-consultation about removing time limit variation from the proposal, the Parish Council has made further comments with regards to highway safety, summarised below: • Number of speed watch sessions carried out showing clear speeding, different to submitted speed survey • Still have concerns with safety of the junction • Concerns about emergency vehicle and utility access • Peterborough City Council Highways is commencing work on A605/ Alwalton T junction Re‐alignment (Public Consultation June 2018) this year to allow smooth flow of traffic from A1 South through Oundle Road, Alwalton. This smooth flow could be hampered by vehicles attempting a right turn from A1 South entry point to the proposed access site.

5.2 CCC Local Highway Authority: - No objection in principle, comments summarised below: • The LHA authority initially commented the provided speed survey indicates that a splay of 2.4m x 30m is required. The applicant should contact Highways England to ascertain their ownership of land to ensure this forward visibility is achievable over land under their control.

Following correspondence with the Applicant and Highways England with regards to visibility splays and land ownership: • The visibility extract, land ownership details show visibility splays run across both Highway England’s land and unregistered land. Highways England have no objection to removal of the hedge on its land to achieve the required visibility. • The forward visibility splay is in accordance with the speed survey which was carried out, and that the splay lines go over land either within control of Highways England or CCC highways. • Recommended conditions requested a series of conditions (access width, boundary treatment pd rights, visibility splays, access surface construction and parking arrangements)

5.3 Highways England, comments summarised below: • Originally commented no objections • Following further correspondence with the CCC Highways provided further comments confirming land is either unregistered or in Highways England ownership and not within private ownership. • HE has no objection to the removal of part of the hedge on its land in order to achieve required visibility • Think about sensitivity with neighbour on the other side of the hedge. • No objection, no conditions recommended.

5.4 Cambridgeshire Constabulary – No comments regarding variation

5.5 Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeology – No objections, retain condition on previous consent

5.6 HDC Landscaping officer – No comments

6. REPRESENTATIONS

6.1 1 objection received from 49a Oundle Road, Alwalton summarised below: • Considerable traffic exiting A1 South bound, using the proposed access would impact the traffic flow. • Difficult to judge A1 traffic flow, not a clear line of sight. • Question access width • Plans do not show how Sonia House would access their parking • The driveway would cause nuisance for neighbours • HDC allowed an elm tree to be removed (15/01507/TREE) from the site on the condition that a maple, copper beach or Walnut were planted adjacent to the A605. Has this been complied with?

Officer Response: Comments addressed within the report.

7. ASSESSMENT

7.1 The principal, important and controversial issues to consider in assessing this application are based on if this development is considered sustainable development, having considered the economic, environmental and social elements of this case. With that in mind the following issues are assessed below: • The principle of development • Impact on Highway Safety and Parking • Impact on the character of the area • Residential amenity • Archaeology • Infrastructure requirements and planning obligations; and • Other issues

Principle of development:

7.2 The principle of residential development has already been established with the granting of outline consent 16/00346/OUT. A full history is outlined in the above section.

Access and Transport:

7.3 As commented on above within the consultee comments and representations, the Parish Council and a neighbour object to the proposal on highway safety grounds. In particular this is due to the proximity of the access to the A1 southbound slip road, interruption of busy traffic flow and the lack of visibility from the proposed access. The Parish Council submitted further information about 18 speed surveys conducted between April and December 2018 on Oundle Road entering and leaving the A1 at peak times. They found out of 3022 vehicles surveyed 97 were in excess of the speed limit at an average speed of 36mph. The findings are different to the findings in the submitted speed survey by the applicant which showed speeding was far more unlikely. The recent findings from the Parish Council are noted, however private vehicles illegally speeding is out of the control of the Local Planning Authority and is covered by separate legislation. The Parish Council also quoted a previous response from CCC Highways about highway safety concerns. However this response was superseded by the most response which is discussed below.

7.4 However following the submission of further information during the course of the application process, both Highways England and Cambridgeshire County Council Highways have no objections to the proposed changes to the conditions. The parameters of the proposed access in terms of width are considered acceptable for the vehicle movements proposed. It has also been confirmed that the proposed visibility splays are achievable as they pass over land which is either in the applicant’s control or land which is within Highways England control. This is demonstrated on drawing HW0002 and within the consultee response from Highways England. Therefore these splays can remain unimpeded. Due to the levels of visibility available it is not considered the proposal would have an adverse impact upon Highway Safety. The Parish Council raised concerns such as emergency, delivery and utility vehicles as well as future work from Peterborough City Council Highways. Ultimately the Cambridgeshire County Council Highways and Highways England are satisfied with the proposal.

7.5 Notwithstanding the above, the Local highway Authority has recommended a number of new conditions which include: - - access width, access construction criteria - visibility splays to be provided in accordance with a plan

7.6 Finally the Local Highway Authority request a condition to remove PD rights for boundary treatments, in particular gates from Schedule 2 Part 2 Class A. The reason for this is to avoid obstruction to the Public Highway which could cause an unnecessary risk of Highway Safety. It is therefore considered reasonable and necessary to add these conditions to the decision notice.

7.7 Subject to these, the proposal is therefore considered to accord with the NPPF, policies H31 & T18 of the Huntingdonshire Local Plan 1995 and policies LP17 and LP18 of the Huntingdonshire Local Plan to 2036 Proposed Submission 2017.

Impact on the character of the area:

7.8 This application only seeks to vary highway conditions of outline consent 16/00346/OUT, no variation is proposed for the amount of development. A future reserved matters application would seek approval for appearance, landscaping, layout and scale. A new access in this location is not considered to have a significant adverse impact upon the character of the area. The proposed changes are not affected by the previous tree application ref 15/01507/TREE as raised by a neighbour. As there are no other changes proposed it is considered reasonable and necessary to reinstate conditions with regards to materials, proposed floor levels, landscaping including ecological enhancements, pd rights, cycle and bin storage to this decision notice.

7.9 The proposal is therefore considered to accord with the NPPF, policies CS1 and CS3 of the Adopted Core Strategy (2009) and policies LP11, LP12 and LP13 of the Huntingdonshire Local Plan to 2036: Proposed Submission 2017.

Residential Amenity:

7.10 Officers need to be satisfied at this stage that the site is capable of accommodating the amount of development proposed without having a detrimental impact on neighbour’s amenity. As there is no change in the amount of development proposed, the development is considered acceptable in terms of overshadowing, overlooking, loss of privacy, and would not have a significant impact upon residential amenity.

7.11 A neighbour has commented that the proposed new location for the access would cause disturbance to adjacent neighbouring properties both during construction and once the development is occupied. Whilst it is accepted that No 47 and No 49a Oundle Road would be impacted by the new proposed access, this impact would be similar to properties on Royce Road, Alwalton, where the original access was granted. The impact would not be significant enough for a refusal. There are no habitable room windows on No 47 facing the proposed access, and No 49a is separated by a hard boundary treatment. Impacts from construction traffic are temporary, it is noted that the original outline consent ref 16/00346/OUT did not contain any conditions to mitigate against impacts from construction. Due to the size of the development i.e. up to 8 units, the number of adjacent properties in close proximity to the site, the previous consent should have contained a condition limiting construction times in order to mitigate the impact of construction noise on neighbour amenity, however a condition about this issue was not imposed. Therefore due to the size of the application scheme and the proximity of the new access to neighbouring properties, it is considered reasonable and necessary to add a condition to this consent in order to protect the amenity of surrounding properties.

7.12 The original outline 16/00346/OUT added a number of conditions with regards to noise mitigation of future occupants and acoustic fencing to mitigate the impact of the nearby A1. As there is no other proposed variation to the permission other than the proposed access, it is considered necessary and reasonable to re add these to the decision notice. Policies H31, H37 and H38 seek to ensure residential amenity is not harmed as a result of development; the NPPF within the core principles states that planning should "always seek to secure high quality design and a good standard of amenity for all existing and future occupants of land and buildings". These policies are therefore considered compliant with the aims of the NPPF and can be given full weight. Policy LP 15 of the emerging Local Plan to 2036: Proposed Submission also seeks to protect the amenity of future occupies and the amenities of neighbouring users. Having regard to paragraph 213 of the NPPF, it is considered that significant weight should be attributed to Policy LP 15 of Huntingdonshire's Local Plan to 2036.

Affordable Housing:

7.13 The previous planning consent (application ref 16/00346/OUT) discussed within the officer report that 40% of affordable housing would be provided of the net increase of housing. However there is no evidence of a Section 106 agreement or an affordable housing condition on the decision notice. Policy LP25 of the Huntingdonshire's Local Plan to 2036: Proposed Submission 2017 (as amended March 2018) states that 40% of affordable housing will only be provided on site proposing 11 homes or more. Given the formal decision notice on the previous decision did not bind the applicant into delivering affordable housing, and given the current policy requirement which carries significant weight in this decision, no affordable housing will be sought as part of the current proposal. This conclusion would be materially no different to what was granted under application 16/00346/OUT. Therefore the application is considered to be in accordance with Policy LP25 of the Huntingdonshire's Local Plan to 2036: Proposed Submission 2017.

Archaeology:

7.14 An archaeology condition was added to the previous outline consent 16/00346/OUT. Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeology team have no objection to the proposal and stated they would wish that condition to be reapplied to the current proposal. As there is no material change to the archaeological circumstances this is considered necessary and reasonable.. Therefore the application is considered to be in accordance with Policy LP36 of the Huntingdonshire's Local Plan to 2036: Proposed Submission 2017.

Infrastructure Requirements and Planning Obligations:

7.15 The Infrastructure Business Plan 2013/2014 (2013) was developed by the Growth and Infrastructure Group of the Huntingdonshire Local Strategic Partnership. It helps to identify the infrastructure needs arising from the development proposed to 2036 through the Core Strategy

7.16 Statutory tests set out in the Community Infrastructure Regulations 2010 (Regulation 122) require that S106 planning obligations must be: - Necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms; - Directly related to the development; and - Fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development The application is accompanied by a satisfactory completed unilateral undertaking for the provision of wheeled bins in accordance with the Developer Contributions SPD (2011).

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL):

7.17 As this planning application is for a minor development, the development will be CIL liable in accordance with the Council's adopted charging schedule; CIL payments will cover footpaths and access, health, community facilities, libraries and lifelong learning and education.

Conclusion and Planning Balance:

7.18 The NPPF has at its heart the presumption in favour of sustainable development. To be sustainable, development must, as noted in paragraph 6 of the NPPF, strike a satisfactory balance between the economic, environmental and social considerations.

7.19 In terms of the economic dimension of sustainable development, the proposal would contribute towards economic growth, including job creation – such as maintenance of any facilities assisting the local economy through spending on local services.

7.20 In terms of the environmental dimension of sustainable development, it would not be materially different to the original outline consent 16/00346/OUT.

7.21 In terms of the social dimension, the site appears to have no significant constraints and is deliverable.

7.22 Having assessed all three dimensions of sustainable development; economic, environmental and social within this report it is concluded that the development of this site will: - • Provide a supply of market housing to meet current and future generations • Provide a design of development that is acceptable • Not cause significant detrimental impact to residential amenity • Provide acceptable parking provision • Maximise opportunities for use of public transport, walking and cycling • Manage flood risk and drainage effectively • Provide appropriate infrastructure to meet the needs generated by the development through wheeled bin provision

7.23 For these reasons, the proposal is considered to constitute sustainable development and accords with the Development Plan. There are no overriding material considerations that indicate that permission should not be granted in this instance and the application is therefore recommended for approval subject to the stated planning conditions.

8. RECOMMENDATION - APPROVAL subject to conditions to include the following

• Reserved Matters application time limit • Reserved Matters details • Approved Plans • Boundary Treatment Pd rights • Visibility Splays • Access construction • Access width • Materials • Levels • Archaeology • Acoustic report • Acoustic fencing • Landscaping • Bin storage • Cycle storage • Dwelling PD rights

Informative

• Works to the Public Highway

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CONTACT OFFICER: Enquiries about this report to Will Tysterman Senior Development Management Officer 01480 388411

Development Management Committee

Scale =1 :1,250 Application Ref: 18/01348/S73

Date Created: 29/01/2019 © Crown copyright and database rights 2019 Location:Alwalton Ordnance Survey HDC 100022322

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Comments from Alwalton Parish Council dated 30.01.2019

Re: Parish Council Consultation‐ Application REF.18/01348/S73 Variation of condition 6/7/8 of 16/00346/OUT‐to change access details to site

The Parish Council would like to comment on the following areas of concern :

1)Speed

We are concerned about the close proximity of the proposed site access with the A1 junction and the potential speed of traffic leaving the A1 onto Oundle Road.

The Alwalton Communty Speed Watch team, supported by Cambridgeshire Police, has the following findings:

i) Number of Speed Watch sessions carried out (approximately a block away from the proposed site access) from April 2018 to December 2018 on both sides of Oundle Road ,monitoring traffic entering the Village from A1 South and exiting to A1 South at peak times(8.30am to 9.30 am & 5 pm to 6 pm) and off peak times( 10.30 to 11.30 am & 4pm to 5 pm) : 18

ii)Total number of vehicles monitored during these sessions :3022

iii)Number of vehicles exceeding speed limit of 30mph : 97

iv) Average speed of vehicles exceeding the speed limit: 36 mph

(The above findings can be corroborated by contacting Mike Brooks , Forcewide Watch Co‐ordinating Officer, Speed Watch and Neighbourhood Watch [email protected] )

The above findings are different from the one reported by Barry Nicholls in his Speed Management Data Report dated 13th June 2018, during which an average speed of 19mph of the 100 vehicles monitored at off peak time of 10amto 12noon on the slip road into the village from A1 South. At present we have one Speed Watch team but due to concern of village residents about vehicles speeding through Oundle Road, we are planning to have a 2nd team of volunteers to increase frequency of speed monitoring.

2) Safety

The Parish Council would like to support the concerns raised by Cambridgeshire County Council Highways (letter dated 08/08/2018 from Robin Hobbs, Highways Development Management to Will Tysterman, HDC, Development services) regarding forward visibility splay at the A1/ Oundle road junction. We are concerned about the safety issue and the need to ensure sufficient visibility of oncoming traffic leaving the A1 onto Oundle Road. This has been investigated by Highways England (Letter dated 20/12/2018 from Shamsul Hoque , Assistant Spatial Planning Manager to Will Tysterman, HDC, Development Services) Forward visibility at this junction has obstruction by a hedge, part of which is on unregistered land and removal of which may pose a problem for the developers.

3)Emergency and Utility access The potential difficulty emergency, delivery and Council refuse vehicles may experience entering and exiting this site due to the close proximity of the site access to A1 South.

4) A605 Alwalton to Lynchwood Re‐Alignment Project 2019

Peterborough City Council Highways is commencing work on A605/ Alwalton T junction Re‐alignment(Public Consultation June 2018) this year to allow smooth flow of traffic from A1 South through Oundle Road ,Alwalton ,to Lynch Wood Business park by creating a left filter lane at the T junction. This smooth flow could be hampered by vehicles attempting a right turn from A1 South entry point to the proposed access site, therefore potentially creating a build up of traffic on A1 South.

The Parish Council recommends all three Highway authorities: Highways England, Cambridgeshire County Council Highways and Peterborough City Council Highways communicate with each other regarding the safety of the proposed access site.