Land at St. Agnes Place
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1 Location Land At St Agnes Place, London Ward Oval Proposal Demolition of the existing structures and redevelopment of the site to provide 58 residential units in a series of buildings ranging from two to four storeys in height, together with associated car parking spaces, cycle spaces, storage, amenity space and access; The relocation of the existing One O Clock Club and Adventure Playground from the south of the site to a new location at the north of the site along with new play facilities, and a new purpose built 413sqm childrens play/community building to accommodate and accompany the facilities; The re-alignment of the highway to the east of the site. Application Type Full Planning Permission Application No 11/00391FUL/DC_JWO/36670 Applicant London ·& Quadrant Housing Trust Date Valid 9 March 2011 Considerations Environment Agency Flood Zone Environment Agency Flood Zone 2 or 3 Approved Plans Recommendation GRANT PERMISSION 2 Officer Report 11/00391/RG4 1. SUMMARY OF ISSUES 1.1. The acceptability of the housing provision on this site; 1.2. The impact of the proposals upon the surrounding townscape and heritage assets; 1.3. The acceptability of the relocated and reconfigured play areas; 1.4. The open space provision; 1.5. Any issues with the functioning of the surrounding highways and pedestrian thoroughfares; 1.6. S106 contributions. 2. SITE DESCRIPTION 2.1 The site is a roughly rectangular shaped area of land 1.33ha in size situated between Kennington Park and the Kennington Park Extension. The site runs broadly on a north-south axis, with the road St Agnes Place running through the site from the north before forming Bolton Crescent which connects with Camberwell New Road to the south. 2.2 The site currently contains a mix of uses comprised of adopted highways, previously developed and cleared brownfield (housing) land, park land, vacant housing, a one o-clock club and an adventure playground. 2.3 The southern part of the site contains the existing play areas, the One O-Clock Club (OoCC) building and associated open space and the Adventure Playground (APG) together with associated open space. The two sites sit on either side of a service road for the adjacent sports pitch and are currently in active use. To the north the road wraps around the adventure playground before forming a ‘dogleg’ and running north between the now demolished St Agnes Place terraced housing which is currently hoarded off. To the north of this sits a vacated affordable housing block (73 St Agnes Place), an open area of land to the east of the road forming a link between the two parks which was formerly a scrap yard and a small segment of park currently used for storage and composting by Lambeth Parks. 2.4 Immediately to the west of the site lies Kennington Park which (except for the adjacent football pitch) is within the St Marks Conservation Area, is on the English Heritage Register of Historic Parks and Gardens and is a site of Local Nature Conservation Importance. The park is well used and has a variety of open and landscaped areas including a walled flower garden which sits immediately to the north west of the northern section of the application site. 2.5 Immediately to the east of the site lies the Kennington Park extension which consists of open space and playing fields, with the Charlie Chaplin adventure playground to the south. 3 2.6 The rear of three storey commercial and residential properties fronting Bolton Crescent and Camberwell New Road bound the south of the site. 2.7 Further to the north of the site residential properties front St Agnes Place which after a short distance forms the borough boundary with the London Borough of Southwark. 2.8 Immediately to the north sits the cleared site of a former Rastafarian temple which has planning permission secured for a housing development (see section 3 below). 2.9 There are no listed buildings within the immediate vicinity of the site. 2.10 The site is within the background consultation area for the LVMF view from Primrose Hill to Palace of Westminster. 2.11 The site has a Public Transport Accessibility Level (PTAL) of 6a. Oval Underground station is located approximately 300m to the west of the site. Numerous bus routes operate in close proximity on Kennington Park Road and Camberwell New Road. St Agnes Place and Bolton Crescent are within the Kennington Controlled Parking Zone. 2.12 The site lies within the saved UDP Major Development Opportunity Area 53. 3. HISTORY OF THE SITE AND CONTEXT OF APPLICATION 3.1 Housing along the length of St Agnes Place was laid out in the mid 19 th Century, along with a network of terraced housing to the east and west. In the early 1930s the housing to the west of St Agnes Place was demolished and absorbed into the park, along with the creation of the adjacent football pitch. From 1957 the London Council cleared the housing to the east of St Agnes Place to create the Brandon Estate along with the Kennington Park Extension. Housing to the south of St Agnes Place was cleared to form the two children’s play areas. 3.2 The result of the above development was that by the late 1960s St Agnes Place was a lone residential road surrounded by open areas and parkland. This was followed by a prolonged period of squatting, during which a scrap-yard was formed in an area of cleared housing to the north of the existing site (and a Rastafarian temple to the north outside application site). 3.3 During the 2000’s the Council pursued a regeneration agenda which resulted in the squatters being evicted and the housing being cleared and demolished (except for an affordable housing block at 71-73 St Agnes Place). The scrapyard was removed and landscaped into the existing link between the two parks. 3.4 In the preceding years, the Council has been working with London and Quadrant Housing to regenerate the site and restore housing, which has culminated with the submission of the current planning application. Other relevant history 3.5 In February 2011 planning permission was granted for a housing development on the site of the former Rastafarian Temple with the following description (ref10/03840/FUL): 4 Erection of a part 4 and part 5 storey building to provide 18 self contained units with provision of refuse and cycle storage, one disabled parking space and associated landscaping. 4 SCHEME DETAILS 4.1 The scheme proposes to develop and reconfigure the site, re-providing housing, along with the relocation of the two play areas, the realignment of the highway and the landscaping of areas of open space. 4.2 A total of 58 residential units are proposed in a series of buildings ranging from two to four storeys in height, 10% of which would be disabled units. This would comprise 9 x 1 bed, 12 x 2 bed, 30 x 3 bed, and 7 x 4 bed units. Based on the site area (including half the width of the public highways) the development would have a density of 306 habitable rooms per hectare (hrh). 4.3 The historical layout of land use across the site is proposed to be re-configured. Whereas currently the play areas sit to the south of the site, with the clearing housing land to the north, the proposals would ‘flip’ this configuration, and place the proposed housing to the south of the site behind the buildings on Bolton Crescent, with the play areas moved to a site to the north immediately adjacent the current open link between the two parks. 4.4 As set out above, the two play areas (the OoCC and APG) which currently sit at the south of the site on either side of an access road to the adjacent sports pitch would be moved to a single site to the north of the application site. This site currently forms cleared St Agnes Place housing land and an area of Kennington Park immediately to the east of the walled garden currently used as composting and storage by Lambeth Parks. A new purpose built 413m² building would accommodate and accompany the facilities. New play facilities are proposed. The two existing play areas combined form 3761m² whereas the proposed consolidated area would form 3126m². 4.5 The existing highway would re-aligned from its current ‘dog leg’ configuration to run along the east of the application site. The access road running to the adjacent sports facilities would be re-provided in a broadly similar configuration, but in the format of a Homezone. 4.2 Private amenity space for the homes would be provided through balconies, roof terraces and private gardens. 4.3 A total of 29 residential car parking spaces are proposed, in addition to 6 on street CPZ bays and a disabled parking space for users of the play building. 4.4 Refuse and recycling storage areas are to be provided at locations throughout the site. 4.5 All private homes would be built to the Code for Sustainable Homes level three and affordable homes to level four. A range of measures would result in the development achieving a 19.6% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. 5 CONSULTATION 5.2 Consultation on the application was carried out from 5 March 2011. Six site notices were erected in the vicinity of the site on 6 April 2011. The application was advertised in the South London Press on 30 March 2011. Letters of notification were sent out to 5 the following statutory bodies and external consultees, the responses of which to the consultation are as follows: o London Borough of Southwark:- no response o English Heritage:- This application should be determined in accordance with national and local policy guidance, and on the basis of your specialist conservation advice.