4/00122/16/Mfa - Construction of 8 Half Storey Car Park with Associated Work to Provide 312 Spaces + 15 Disabled Spaces
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
4/00122/16/MFA - CONSTRUCTION OF 8 HALF STOREY CAR PARK WITH ASSOCIATED WORK TO PROVIDE 312 SPACES + 15 DISABLED SPACES. CAR PARK, LOWER KINGS ROAD, BERKHAMSTED, HP4 2AJ. APPLICANT: DACORUM BOROUGH COUNCIL - MR N BROWN. [Case Officer - Fiona Bogle] Summary The application is recommended for approval subject to conditions and a S106 Agreement to secure financial contributions towards highway mitigation measures. However, if the Development Control Committee resolves to grant the proposal the application must be referred to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government as a request to the Secretary of State to consider "calling-in" the application has been received. Site Description The site comprises the public car park off Lower Kings Road within Berkhamsted Town Centre and the Berkhamsted Conservation Area. The site is bounded to the south by the rear of High Street properties of varying heights, to the east by shops and residence on Lower Kings Road, again of varying scale, to the north by flats adjacent to the River Bulbourne and to the west by the Waitrose store and car park. The land rises in a southerly direction such that the High Street buildings sit on higher ground than the level of the site. There are trees either side of the Lower Kings Road entrance and a number of ornamental trees within the existing surface car park. Historically, the Bulbourne Factory, a two storey brick built Edwardian clothing factory previously occupied the northern half of the application site (including the joint access road to the site and Waitrose) before it was demolished in 1969. It would appear the southern half of the site had until the development of the surface car park and adjacent Waitrose store, principally comprised of the rear garden plots of the properties fronting onto the High Street. All of the High Street buildings to the south of the site are grade II listed buildings. There are also listed buildings opposite the access to the site on Lower Kings Road. The upper floors of many of the High street buildings are in residential use as is the top of no.24A Lower Kings Road all having views out to the car park. Background to Proposal Berkhamsted Town council in their response to the first round of consultation explain the background to the proposal as follows: “In 2010-2012 in response to complaints from a number of residents, BTC tabled a proposal to introduce a Residents Parking Zone (RPZ) in two areas of Berkhamsted in which residents had varying degrees of difficulty in finding a parking space within a reasonable distance from their house eg in the same road. It was thought that the problem was caused almost entirely by rail commuters. Survey data collected and analysed by residents, businesses and health practitioners, found that this was not actually the case. Whilst there were indeed a number of commuters, there were also approximately 365 cars owned by staff working at businesses/charities (excluding Waitrose and Berkhamsted School) or visiting health practitioners in or adjacent to the 2 zones. In addition to these numbers there were also shoppers, approximately 80 – 90 Berkhamsted School students and other visitors. From the survey data and papers produced by businesses and residents, the conclusions reached by BTC are summarised as follows: • The displacement of business parkers from the proposed RPZ areas, which could trigger the departure of businesses, would be detrimental to the commercial vitality of the town • The displacement would merely shift the problem of unsociable parking from the two RPZ areas to adjacent residential areas • Any RPZ could not be successfully introduced until additional parking for businesses, shoppers and other visitors to the town was provided in an appropriate location(s) and at modest prices for business employees. • The detailed proposals for the RPZ areas would not deliver the expected benefits to residents since the number of parking spaces would have been significantly reduced.” In August 2012, Savell Bird Axon published a report for the Council on the feasibility for provision of a multi-storey car park at Berkhamsted. The report explores the potential for building an MSCP and identifying a preferred site. The report identified a demand for both short term and long term parking in Berkhamsted with the likelihood that such demand would increase in the future. Of the 6 off street car parks in Berkhamsted 4 are owned by DBC: Canal Fields, St. Johns Well Lane, Water Lane and Lower kings Road. A site visit of each of the car parks was carried out on one weekday to investigate the suitability of each site for a multi storey car park. Site constraints such as proximity to nearby buildings and potential light impact, physical dimensions, height, trees, ground levels, servicing and impact on surrounding businesses were taken into account. Of the four sites Lower kings road was considered the most suitable due to size, shape, location and lack of significant constraints. The report to Cabinet 11th February 2014 on the feasibility of developing a multi storey car park on Lower Kings Road, Berkhamsted details the background to the proposal as follows: In April 2013, Portfolio Holder approval (PH/015/13) was granted for the appointment of White Young & Green (WYG) to undertake a feasibility study and commercial viability assessment into the development of a multi-storey car park (MSCP) in Lower Kings Road, Berkhamsted. WYG carried out a detailed site audit of the Lower Kings Road car park in early summer 2013. Parking surveys were also carried out for all public car parks and the High Street Pay-and-Display parking bays. The surveys involved hourly assessments of the parking bays to determine number of vehicles parked and duration of stay. In addition, sample surveys were carried out on-street of Berkhamsted town streets to gauge what pressures there were for parking and where these arose. The survey area was based on a 5 minute walk time of the High Street/Lower Kings Road/Kings Road junction, taken as the epicentre for shopping activity. The on-street parking surveys identified that there was strong demand for kerbside parking within 5 minutes walk of the High Street. Roads in the vicinity of Chapel Road/Ravens Lane, Highfield Road/Victoria Road and Kings Road/Clarence Road were fully occupied through residential parking demand. Parking around Charles Street/Boxwell Road/Park View Road became high throughout the weekday morning. The High Street short stay pay-and-display parking appeared to be attractive for shop visitors as the bays were fully utilised throughout the day. The WYG assessment looked at potential future demand which could be generated by a variety of sources over the coming years. A demand profile was prepared and a prediction profile developed for 2015 to 2034 (up to 20 years): Predicted background growth in vehicle trips – Growth rates were obtained for the 2015 (Year 1) and 2034 (Year 20) base traffic flow data in order to determine the average traffic growth expected per year (from Year 1 to Year 20). Census data analysis – Car ownership and population trends were reviewed using the Office for National Statistics 2011 Census data, and comparing these for car ownership per household and population levels against the 2001 Census datasets for Berkhamsted (primarily), Tring and Chesham (other local district centres) and Dacorum District as a whole. Population change – Growth in population for Berkhamsted and the wider environs was derived based on assessment of the Local Development Framework (LDF) Draft Core Strategy for the Dacorum District (Nov-Dec 2010) and the LDF Core Strategy for the Chiltern District (Nov 2011). Rail Patronage Growth – A review of the 8 previous available consecutive years’ estimations for station usage data released by the Office for Rail Regulation was carried out in order to understand the travel growth and the potential increase in the forecast years. Increased economic activity (extending town centre commercial opportunity) – A review of the above mentioned LDF Draft Core Strategy for the Dacorum area was carried out, together with existing planning applications for retail units located within the Town Centre. Growth through unlocking demand (Latent Demand) – It was envisaged that the provision of additional parking, would be utilised by town centre visitors and commuters and could accommodate parking from elsewhere in the town. The Proposal To meet the identified need for additional car parking in the town and relieve existing pressure within the streets nearby to the High Street planning permission is sought for a Multi-Storey Car Park (MSCP) for 327 car parking spaces at Lower Kings Road, 15 of the spaces would be disabled bays located at the northeast corner of the site. Motorcycle and cycle parking would be accommodated near the blue badge disabled parking area and 6 electric charging points would be located on the top deck. The proposal would comprise of 8 half-storey levels internally, including the ground floor. Externally, the proposal will appear as a four-storey structure. The building would be 13.5m high, comprising 8 half storey levels (4 decks - 2 levels/floors per deck) with two pedestrian circulation staircases and one vehicular access ramp connecting the floors. The main circulation area will have a staircase and two lifts with capacity for 8 persons each. The secondary area will house a staircase only. The ground and first floors would have a total of 75 spaces, floors 2 and 3 a total of 79 spaces, 4 and 5 a total of 79 spaces and floors 6 and 7 (the top deck) would have 73 spaces plus 6 with electric charging points. In addition there will be 15 spaces for blue badge holders outside the building itself.