Finsbury Park Station - Planning Application

Finsbury Park Train Station Arch 15 & 16 Station Place, Arch 42 Well’s Terrace & 243 Seven Sisters Road, , N4 2DH Design, Access and Planning Statement

Document Reference: PP-04025538 Date: 12th March, 2015

1

Finsbury Park Station - Planning Application

1.0 Introduction 2.0 Network Rail 3.0 Site & Surrounding 4.0 Planning History 5.0 Proposal 6.0 Planning Policy Framework 7.0 Transport 8.0 Design 9.0 Planning Condition 10.0 Conclusion

2

Finsbury Park Station - Planning Application

1.0 Introduction

1.1 This application is submitted by the Network Rail (NR) Town Planning team on behalf of the Commercial Estates division of Network Rail Property. The proposed application is for the refurbishment of the Arches are located at the front of Finsbury Park Station, 15 & 16 Station Place, Arch 42 Well’s Terrace and Arch 243 Seven Sisters Road, London N4 2DH. The arches at Station Place are located at the front of Finsbury Park Station to the right hand side towards A1201. Currently the arches which are situated on Well’s Terrace are currently used as Operational Railway (Sui Generis) and will be changed to A3 use, except Arch 42 which will be refurbished and is situated towards the A1201. Arch 243 Seven Sisters Road is currently being used for A1 use but will be refurbished. 2.0 Network Rail

2.1 Network Rail is the statutory undertaker for the railways of England, Scotland and Wales. As statutory undertaker, Network Rail is under license from the Department for Transport (DfT) and regulated by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) to maintain and enhance the operational railway and its assets, ensuring the provision of a safe operational railway.

2.2 Network Rail is funded via UK Government guaranteed debt insurance and revenue including grants from the DfT. The levels of debt and public grants offered to Network Rail are negotiated every five years with all stakeholders: DfT, ORR and Network Rail working to reduce these levels for a more sustainable self-funded railway.

2.3 Network Rail actively pursues further revenue from actively managing and developing its commercial property portfolio. This method of revenue generation is both proposed and supported by the DfT.

2.4 The majority of Network Rail’s portfolio is with London. The portfolio is primarily made up of arches arranged in a linear fashion, which supports the operational railway above. As the London property market changes it is necessary for Network Rail to maintain these arches to ensure that they are marketable and provide employment to the area in which they are located. This ensures that arches to do not become redundant, impacting negatively on surrounding areas and the arches are help generate revenue to reduce Network Rail’s public subsidy.

3.0 Site Context & Surrounding

3.1 Finsbury Park Station is located in the north-eastern edge of the borough of , about five kilometres north of the . The site is a busy interchange, including a bus station (Station Place and Wells Terrace), a train station and the station (entrances from Station Place and Wells Terrace). The units are accessible by

3

Finsbury Park Station - Planning Application

public transport, with the site receiving a Public Transport Accessibility Level (PTAL) rating of 6 ‘Excellent’ by . Arch 243 is an existing A class use unit in poor condition. Arch 42 is an existing retail unit in poor condition, with an adjacent operational substation and switch room. Station Place arches 13-14 are currently Transport for London (TfL) offices and Arches 15 and 16 Station Place are currently operating as A1 retail and A3 restaurant and café uses respectively. The surrounding area of Station Place, Wells Terrace and Seven Sisters Road are predominantly made up of A class uses; with some supporting D class uses and C class residential uses. 4.0 Planning History 4.1 From a desk based search of the planning register provided on LPA website, there was no recorded planning history for the site. 5.0 Proposal 5.1 Refurbishment of Arch 243 Seven Sisters Road for continued A1 class use. The refurbishment and development of Arch 42 Well’s Terrace for continued A3 class uses and the substation and switch room arches changed from Operational Railway (Sui Generis) to A1 class uses. Lastly the refurbishment of the railway arches 15-16 Station Place for continued A1 and A3 class use. 5.2 Currently all the arches included in this application are in a very poor condition and this work will help further improve the appearance of the area and will provide good quality retail and food offering at Finsbury Park Station as proposed in the Finsbury Park Town Centre SPD in June 2014. 5.3 The arches which are currently occupied as A1 and A3 uses on Station Place, Seven Sisters Road and Wells Terrace will just be refurbished. The only two units which will be changed from (Operational Railway) Sui Generis to A uses are the two kiosks situated on Wells Terrace in front of the switch room and the substation; these improvements will help provide good quality employment space at the station as the original space was surplus. 6.0 Planning Policy Framework

6.1 Policy Context: The London Borough of Islington, as the Local Planning Authority (LPA) adopted their Core Strategy in February 2011; this sets out the strategic vision and policies for the borough. This is supported by the Development Management Policies and Site Allocations documents which were both adopted in June 2013, which provide more detailed planning guidance for developments and sites respectively.

4

Finsbury Park Station - Planning Application

6.2 The site is part of the Finsbury Park Town Centre SPD which was consulted on in July 2013. The aim of the SPD is to promote the incremental regeneration of the area to reduce deprivation and support the town centre’s economic, social and physical development. The SPD includes improvements to the station itself and surrounding area such as improvements to Station Place, Well’s Terrace and Seven Sisters Road under the railway viaducts. The SPD intention is to strengthen the existing retail offering at Finsbury Park Station by doing the following; diversification of the retail offering, promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and lastly making improvement to the shop fronts. The proposed planning application will improve the retail offering outside the station in the railway viaducts through diversification, increasing office space for small business and making substantial improvement to the shop fronts.

6.3 Core Strategy Policy CS2 would not look to prevent any increased retail development on site, and states that: “development of low density employment sites around Finsbury Park Station is supported to provide mixed-use developments of housing, employment, retail and leisure”.

6.4 The planning policy which is available looks to promote A class use and protect any existing small A class use surrounding Finsbury Park Station. Policy 2 of the Core Strategy encourages redevelopment of low density employment sites around Finsbury Park Station including employment, retail and leisure. Loss of some storage floor space will be acceptable if re- provided in less intensified areas. In section 2.3.3 in the Core Strategy it states that the employment sites surrounding the station are under-utilised and contribute to the area’s unattractiveness and lack of a “sense of place”. This application will make a huge improvement to the retail offer and will start the regeneration of the surrounding area.

6.5 The Core Strategy policy 14 on retail states that the London Borough of Islington wants to retain the dominance of retail shops and actively promote independent retail in the borough’s and district town centre’s. The Core Strategy also states that it will support economic development which allows people to shop locally in the area. This application will support the boroughs aim of promoting independent retailers and encourage people to shop locally.

6.6 The Core Strategy policy 13 on employment spaces requires the London Borough of Islington to provide affordable workspace for local SME’s as they play an important role in the borough’s economy which provides 36% of the borough’s jobs. This planning application will increase the employment space surrounding the station for SME’s to increase and expand.

5

Finsbury Park Station - Planning Application

6.7 The Core Strategy policy 10 on sustainable design which requires the council to encourage sustainable transport choices through maximising opportunities for walking, cycling and public transport use. This planning application does comply with this policy as the design has been scaled down after receiving the pre-app report with objected to how far the retail units came out at Arches 15 & 16 Station Place. The proposals in this application do not impact on pedestrian flows, function of the site and amenity of the surrounding area at either Station Place, Seven Sisters Road and Well’s Terrace. As this site will not have a detrimental impact on the surrounding area and the design is acceptable, then there appears no reason why this proposal should not be supported. 7.0 Transport

7.1 Arch 243 Seven Sisters Road is situated on a very busy road and is situated a very short walkway from Finsbury Park Station and the bus terminal situated on Station Place. The Arches on Well’s Terrace are situated outside the back of Finsbury Park Station and have very good access to rail connection at the station and buses at the bus terminal situated on Well’s Terrace. Arches 15 and 16 situated on Station Place are situated at the front of the station and are adjacent to the bus terminal so have excellent access to transport links. Finally as the 6 arches are situated right outside the station and are very accessible by public transport, with the site receiving a Public Transport Accessibility Level (PTAL) rating of 6 “Excellent” by Transport of London (TfL). 8.0 Design

8.1 This planning application comprises the refurbishment of 4 arches and 2 arches which are being refurbished and changed from (Operational Railway) Sui Generis to A uses which surround the entrance to Finsbury Park Station; this scheme has a combined floor area of 262 sqm.

8.2 The arch 15 and 16 on Station Place will have aluminum framed glazed sliding doors bi-fold doors at the front of the arches. Both of the arches on Station Place will only accessible from the front and arch 15 will be 86.4sqm and arch 16 will be 72.5sqm. The design for Arches 15 and 16 Station Place will not have any impact on the surrounding area and will not impact on pedestrian flows.

8.3 The Arch 243 opening on Seven Sisters Road will have a polyester powder coated aluminum framed glazed infill and glazed single leaf central door. The sign for Arch 243 on Seven Sisters Road will have a non-illuminated sign board above the entrance to the arch as shown on the plans and will be 58.3sqm in size. The design proposed for Arch 243 Seven Sisters Road will not impact on pedestrian flows for the area, in fact it will improve the pedestrian flows as present the occupier has goods lining the pavement which impacts on the pedestrian flow outside Arch 243 Seven Sisters Road.

6

Finsbury Park Station - Planning Application

8.4 Arch 42 Well’s Terrace will have aluminium framed glazed Bi-fold doors at the front of the arches. This arch on Well’s Terrace is only accessible from the front and will be 18.7sqm in size. The two new kiosks on Well’s Terrace will result in loss of arch space used for operational railway (Sui Generis). Access to the switch room and the substation will be accessed via a double door and a single door which will be situated in between the two proposed retail A1 kiosk units and arch 42, the arches will be 17.7sqm and 8.4sqm respectively.

8.5 All the arches will be accessible step free from the pavement on Station Place, Seven Sisters Road and Well’s Terrace. The proposal is that the four arches and the two kiosks to be let out individually.

8.6 Detailed design elements; High quality refurbishment of the elevations and external areas, including use of significant areas of glazing to provide active frontages. This represents a clear improvement to the current situation. Profile of glazing bi-fold doors is to be as narrow as possible (within structural loading constraints) in order to emphasise the open glazed appearance; similarly colours will be neutral.

8.7 None of the arches project forward of the viaduct building line, ensuring that the pattern of the arches are appreciated. The proposed glass glazed extension to arches 15 & 16 Station Place which was proposed in the pre-app application has now been discarded due to the objection in the pre-app report to the retail extension. Integrated roller shutters built into the horizontal glazing bars, with perforated/visually permeable shutters to ensure that the elevations remain lit and visually attractive from the street even when the properties are not in use.

9.0 Planning Conditions

9.1 Sections 6, 7 and 8 above has set out how the proposal addresses relevant material considerations identified through the pre-application advice process and compliance with policy. This includes the potential use of planning conditions. Network Rail looks forward to agreeing appropriately worded conditions with the LPA (in keeping with guidance provided in paragraph 203 - 206 of the NPPF) over the course of the application. To ensure that the development operates successfully suggested conditions and general principles are set out below:

7

Finsbury Park Station - Planning Application

9.2 General point on timing for submission of details:

• Tenants have not been identified at this stage and it is intended that each arch will be let out independently to separate operators.

• Conditions therefore need to be worded allowing details for each arch to be submitted independently

o This so that each arch operator can satisfy all conditions relating to their own permitted use until conditions on the other arch is discharged.

9.3 Hours of Use:

. As a general principle it is considered reasonable that condition on hours of use is applied restricting hours of trade from 06.00 to 23.00 each day.

. It should be clear however that this is only use of the premises by visiting customers/members of the public. This is to allow tenants to remain within the arches outside of trading hours to allow for important non-disruptive business support activities.

9.4 In considering the use of these proposed conditions the LPA should have regard to Paragraphs 203 and 206 of the NPPF that provides the following guidance: “203. Local planning authorities should consider whether otherwise unacceptable development could be made acceptable through the use of conditions or planning obligations. Planning obligations should only be used where it is not possible to address unacceptable impacts through a planning condition.” “206. Planning conditions should only be imposed where they are necessary, relevant to planning and to the development to be permitted, enforceable, precise and reasonable in all other respects.

The implication of this NPPF advice is that if it is accepted that these conditions are necessary to safeguard issues of recognised planning importance, and the relevant part of the development is not permitted to commence/operate until the conditions are satisfied, and enforceable once it commences, then the LPA should be confident that the development can be granted consent.

10.0 Conclusion

10.1 The refurbishment scheme will provide four arches and two kiosks which will have a combined floor area of 262 sqm and the proposal is for the six units to be let individually.

10.2 The proposed scheme will provide good employment space which will support local business needs by recruiting and training local residents. By providing

8

Finsbury Park Station - Planning Application

good quality A class use space and it will help to encourage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to the local area which in return will improve the type of jobs that are on offer to the local residents in the surrounding areas.

10.3 The refurbishment scheme will help improve the area surrounding Finsbury Park Station and will contribute to the improvement of the Finsbury Park Town Centre which looks to promote a wide variety of uses in this designated area. Given the uses of the arches, the proposed frontages is of an appropriate design and in keeping with the surrounding area whilst also accommodating the needs of the occupiers in the future.

10.4 It is considered that the overall proposal does comply with relevant national guidance, the Local Plan and SPD policies. The proposed glass glazed extension to Arches 15 & 16 Station Place which was proposed in the pre-app application has now been disregarded due to pre-app reports objection to the glazed extension. Therefore the application is in accordance with the NPPF so it is requested that the LPA grant conditional planning permission for this refurbishment scheme.

9