PLANNING APPLICATIONS COMMITTEE 19 July 2012 Item: 09

UPRN APPLICATION NO. DATE VALID

12/P0705 27 April 2012

Address Ravensbury Park Open Space, Gardens, , CR4 4DH.

Ward Ravensbury

Proposal: Application for partial discharge of conditions 3 (surface and boundary treatment) and 6 (tree planting and landscaping) attached to the planning permission under reference 06/p0320 dated 20 August 2007 for the demolition of the chalet building on this site and the erection of a new two storey medical centre, two storey children’s nursery and single storey cafe (with small office and public toilets) landscaping and car park with access on Ravensbury Lane. [NB: This application is for partial discharge of these conditions as the submitted details only relate to the medical centre building and the front section of this site and exclude the rear section of the site and nursery building].

Drawing No’s 25948-C.03B; 25948-C.01F; 20610_SK127A; 20610_SK115A; Cellweb Information; RP/01/104; RP- 02-02 [Landscaping schedule]; 20610_AL(--) 307D; 20610_SK117B; 20610_SK125B; and 20610_SK128

Contact Officer: Tony Ryan (8545 3114) ______

RECOMMENDATION GRANT PARTIAL DISCHARGE of conditions 3 (surface treatment) and 6 (tree planting and landscaping) attached to the planning permission under reference 06/P0320.

CHECKLIST INFORMATION Heads of Agreement: N/A Is a screening opinion required: N/A Is an Environmental Statement required: N/A Has an Environmental Impact Assessment been submitted: N/A Press notice – No Site notice – No Design Review Panel consulted – No Number of neighbours consulted – N/A External consultations: N/A Jobs created: N/A Controlled Parking Zone: No 207 PTAL Rating: 2 (poor) ______

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 This application has been called in for determination by the Planning Application Committee by Councillor Philip Jones

2. SITE AND SURROUNDINGS 2.1 Ravensbury Park Open Space is located between residential properties in Wandle Road to the south; Morden Road to the north and residential properties in Hengelo Gardens and Morden Gardens to the east and west respectively. The runs along the southern boundary of Ravensbury Park with a tributary flowing around the north, east and west boundaries of the open space.

2.2 A part three, part four storey building called Dover House [occupied by Access Self Storage] is located on Morden Road separated from the application site by the private road, Ravensbury Lane. The gated Ravensbury Lane runs from Morden Road providing access to the rear of Dover House, the Council’s maintenance vehicles also use Ravensbury Lane to access Ravensbury Park. An existing gravel car park is located in outside the application site to the northwest corner of Ravensbury Park with vehicular access onto Morden Road.

2.3 The original application site covering an area of 4138 square metres is located within the Wandle Valley Conservation Area, and stretches across the northern end of the Ravensbury Park, between Ravensbury Lane and the northern tributary of the River Wandle. A 2.5 metre high locally listed wall previously marked the boundary between the site and Ravensbury Lane, running 107 metres along the north and west boundaries of the application site. The application site was previously occupied by a derelict two-storey chalet building with a footprint of 74 square metres.

2.4 There are various existing mature trees within the application site including a Californian Bay Laurel (Umbellularia Californica), a Chinese Plum Yew (Cephalotaxus fortunei), a Scots Pine (Beauvronensis) and a Beech tree (Fagus sylvatica purpurea).

3. CURRENT PROPOSAL 3.1 The current application seeks the discharge of conditions 3 (surface treatment) and 6 (tree planting and landscaping) attached to the planning permission under reference 06/p0320 granted on the 20 August 2007 insofar as they relate to the front part of this site. A company called GPIC Ltd is undertaking the development of the medical centre. When the building is complete it would be leased to the NHS for use as a doctor’s practice.

3.2 The development that was received planning permission consisted of two new buildings, a new part one, part two storey medical centre at the front of the site incorporating a single storey cafe (with small office and public toilets) and a two storey building at the rear of the site that would provide a children’s nursery. 208 3.3 At the current time the developer has advised that it has not been possible to proceed with the construction of the nursery building due to problems with finance and finding an operator for the building. As a result of this situation, the current application and the conditions that are assessed as part of this report only consider details relating to the front part of this site where the medical centre is located.

3.4 If the developer intends to proceed with the nursery building in the future additional details will be required at this time to discharge conditions 3 (surface and boundary treatment) and 6 (tree planting and landscaping) relating to the rear part of the site where the nursery building is located.

4. PLANNING HISTORY 4.1 Planning permission was granted by the Planning Application Committee in July 2004 for the removal of existing footbridges over the River Wandle and the erection of two replacement footbridges (one to the southwest of 60 to 65 Rawnsley Avenue/to the north of 56 to 60 Wandle Road, the other to the south of 1 Rutter Gardens) with ramped access (04/P0368).

4.2 Planning permission was refused by the Planning Application Committee in April 2005 for the demolition of the existing building and the erection of a new two storey medical centre, single storey children’s nursery, and two storey cafe (with small office, public toilets and a 2 bed flat) together with associated landscaping (04/P2101).

4.3 In 2006 the Planning Applications Committee approved two related planning applications for Conservation Area Consent [06/P0377] and Planning Permission [06/P0320]. The application for conservation area consent [06/P0377] approved the demolition of the derelict café building and the removal of an 8.6 metre long section of the locally listed boundary wall, this was to allow vehicular access from Ravensbury Lane to a new medical centre staff car parking area. The application for planning permission involved the construction of a part single, part double storey building at the western end of the application site. The single storey element with a footprint of 185 square metres providing a café, toilets, park manager’s office and entrance lobby. The two-storey section of the building providing a medical centre, pharmacy and a one bedroom residential flat at first floor level.

4.4 After it was found to be structurally unstable conservation area consent was approved for the complete demolition of the locally listed brick wall in December 2007 [Ref 07/p2994]. A condition attached to this permission required the retention of the bricks to allow for their use in connection with replacement boundary treatment.

4.5 The planning permission [under reference 06/P0320] was subject to a number of these conditions that required the submission of further details for approval. The current report considers conditions relating to the landscaping and surfacing of the open areas of the site and boundary treatments [condition 3], and tree planting and landscaping [condition 6].

209 4.6 The conditions relating to the Arboricultural Method Statement [condition 8]; MOL Protection [condition 11]; and a Demolition Method Statement [condition 13] covering the whole site were discharged by a letter dated 14 March 2008 after the assessment of submitted information. A letter dated 16 April 2010 discharged the condition on Archaeological Investigation [condition 9] and Site Contamination [condition 10] for the whole site. The conditions relating to materials [condition 2]; refuse [condition 4]; cycle and mobility parking [condition 5] the control of construction impacts [condition 14] and ventilation systems [condition 20] relating to the medical centre [but excluding the nursery building and the rear of the site] were discharged in July 2012.

5. CONSULTATION LB Transport Planning 5.1 No objections to the submitted details on surface treatment, boundary and tree planting and landscaping.

LB Merton Conservation Officer 5.2 It is a great loss to the heritage of the borough that it was necessary for the previous developer to demolish the historic locally listed boundary wall and that the original bricks were then lost.

5.3 Without the bricks it is impossible to reproduce the missing historic boundary wall and therefore in order to move forward other options for this boundary need to be considered. It is also accepted that a replacement wall at the original height [2.5 metres] would not benefit the new medical centre use or the development of this site. It is considered that railings or a combination of a brick wall and railings would be acceptable in this location.

Merton Tree Warden Group In summary the following comments have been made  The boundary fence to the south of the Californian Laurel tree should be relocated to the north of the tree to allow better views of the tree and to avoid any potential damage caused by digging the post holes.  The railing that encloses the café terrace is too high and it will block views of the building.  The boundary treatment to the bin enclosure looks like an unresolved afterthought and should better relate to the gate construction.  The plans should show original and finished ground levels;  A full list of paving materials is not shown.  Some species are also potentially too large

Mitcham Cricket Green Community and Heritage 5.4 The replacement of the locally listed wall with two metre high railings is considered unacceptable. Whilst it is accepted that the original bricks have been stolen this does remove the need for the boundary to be rebuilt with appropriate bricks.

LB Merton Tree and Landscape Officer

210 5.5 Following the assessment of revised details the submitted details are considered acceptable and the discharge of conditions 3 and 6 are recommended.

6. POLICY CONTEXT 6.1 As this is an application for the discharge of planning conditions and not an application for planning permission the policy context is not relevant.

7. PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS 7.1 The main planning considerations relate to the assessment of the details submitted to discharge conditions 3 and 6 and whether the details are acceptable in this location including in terms of visual appearance and impact on Ravensbury Park.

Condition 3 (surface and boundary treatment). 7.2 Condition 3 reads as follows “Details of those parts of the site not covered by buildings including any parking, service roads, sight lines, footpaths, hard and soft landscaping, surface treatment and boundary treatment shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority before any development hereby permitted commences. These works shall be carried out in accordance with the approved details.

- Details of those parts of the site not covered by buildings. 7.3 A proposed double gate provides pedestrian access to the site from Morden Road. As this site is in an area at risk from flooding the ground floor of the medical centre is raised above the surrounding ground level with access stairs and a ramp providing access to the front entrance of the building.

7.4 The access ramp and stairs to the main entrance and access stairs and ramps to the other building access points will be constructed of galvanised steel. The handrails will be constructed of powder-coated steel with the ramps landings and stair treads fitted with non-slip inserts where this is necessary. The design of the front entrance access ramp has been amended to allow sufficient space for the provision of a new tree in this location.

7.5 The doctor’s car parking area behind the medical centre building and accessed from Ravensbury Lane will have a permeable surface consisting of block paving [Aquaflow block by formpave] on a foundation of 20-40mm clean angular stone. The access paths on the site will be constructed of hoggin on a foundation of 20-40 mm clean angular stone. The areas of the car park and access paths that are within the root protection areas of trees will use a root protection system [Cellweb]. This system uses a cellular structure with perforated cell walls that reduces the vertical load pressure on the ground above tree roots and allows air and moisture to reach the roots.

7.6 The submitted plans are annotated with a ‘future path’ to the rear of the medical centre building. This path will provide pedestrian access to the nursery when this part of the development takes place. It is not the intention to provide this path as part of the delivery of the medical centre and details of this path will be required when the relevant part of condition 3 is submitted for approval. In the absence of the path this area will be grassed. The new café is provided with a raised terrace area at the rear of the building. The terrace that 211 can be accessed from the café and from ground level will be constructed of composite timber decking.

7.7 In conclusion after consideration of the submitted details the submitted surface details have been assessed and are considered acceptable in this location.

- Boundary Treatments 7.8 The application site is located adjacent to Ravensbury Lane and a 107 metre long, 2.5 metre high locally listed brick boundary wall was previously located along the site boundary with Ravensbury Lane.

7.9 In 2006 the planning committee granted planning permission for the development of this site [reference 06/P0320]. This planning permission included the formation of two breaks [8.6 metre long] in the locally listed wall to provide access to the medical centre from Ravensbury Lane.

7.10 In the autumn of 2007 the owner of the site reported that the 2.5 metre high locally listed wall had partially collapsed, and that it was unstable and posed a danger to anyone using Ravensbury Lane. Following a site assessment a report from Waterman Structures Consulting Engineers advised that the wall be dismantled immediately along its entire length to avoid the danger posed to members of the public.

7.11 After consideration of the conservation area consent application [site in Wandle Valley Conservation Area], including the value of the wall and health and safety issues, conservation area consent was approved in December 2007 for the demolition of the entire locally listed wall. A planning condition was attached to this approval stating that the bricks be retained and reused in a replacement boundary wall. It was subsequently reported to the Council that all the bricks had been stolen from the site. The theft was reported to the Police and a crime reference number provided to the Council by the developer. In the period following the theft of the bricks the developer has changed with the current application and the current work to construct the building undertaken by the new developer, GPIC Ltd.

7.12 Ravensbury Lane is a private gated road running from London Road between the medical centre site and Dover House [Access Self Storage]; Ravensbury Lane also forms the boundary of this part of Wandle Valley Conservation Area. The current application to discharge conditions 3 and 6 only relates to the front part of this site and as a result the current application considers a 54 metre length of the site boundary to Ravensbury Lane. This part of the boundary also includes the openings of 8.5 metres that were previously approved as part of the application under reference 06/p0320.

7.13 The boundary treatment to the medical centre site is required to provide security [in terms of storage of drugs etc] but also provide views from Ravensbury Lane into the medical centre site for natural surveillance of the staff car park.

7.14 Whilst the loss of the 2.5 metre high locally listed wall is regrettable this loss is also considered an opportunity to improve the appearance of Ravensbury 212 Lane with a permeable boundary that would improve views from Morden Road into Ravensbury Park towards the River Wandle.

7.15 Following discussion with the developer, the Council’s conservation officer and the Merton Tree Warden Group the original proposed boundary railings along Ravensbury Lane have been replaced with the provision of a 1.5 metre high brick wall, topped with a metre high railings that will be powder coated black. This boundary design is considered the most appropriate solution in this location and the correct balance between providing a replacement 2.5 metre high wall, and safety, security and visual amenity considerations.

7.16 The brick boundary wall and railings will run from the front corner of the new building along Ravensbury Lane to the entrance to the doctors surgery staff car park. The applicant has confirmed that the brick wall will be constructed of Rudgwick Sevenoaks Blend. Whilst the original wall was blackened with pollution, damage to the wall showed that it was constructed of a mix of red and yellow bricks and it is considered that the proposed new brick provides a good match to the original wall construction. At the entrance to the car staff park the bin store and mechanical plant area will be screened from Morden Road and enclosed by a chestnut stained timber close-boarded fence with gates.

7.17 Along the Morden Road frontage of the medical centre site 1.4 metre high metal railings will match the existing railings to the adjacent area of Ravensbury Park. The southern boundary of the application site adjacent to the River Wandle will have 2 metre high railings of a similar design to the 1.4 metre high railings. The current application only relates to the front section of this site where the medical centre is located. The boundary of the land where the nursery building is proposed and the boundary between the two sites will be marked with a two metre high timber hoarding.

7.18 In conclusion, it is considered that the submitted details of surface materials for all parts of the site and boundary treatments are appropriate and will preserve the character of the conservation area will enhance the appearance of this site. It is therefore recommended that condition 3 be discharged.

Condition 6 (tree planting and landscaping) 7.19 Condition 6 reads as follows: “A tree planting/landscaping scheme, which should include full details of species, size of plants and spacing shall be submitted to the Local Planning Authority for approval and be implemented at substantial completion of site works, or within the first available planting season, whichever is the sooner, or within any such longer period as may be agreed in writing with the Local Planning Authority. The Council will require a maintenance period of 3 years during which dead, dying, diseased or defective trees, shrubs and ground cover must be replaced with specimens that accord with the approved landscape details. The areas identified for landscaping shall be retained in accordance with the approved landscape scheme. Any proposed changes to this use shall be submitted to the Local Planning Authority for their consideration and determination”.

7.20 As part of the application to discharge condition 6, a planting plan has been submitted for the fifteen planting beds that will be provided across the site. 213 The submitted details include over 25 species of plants including the size of the plants and the number that are going to be provided. The submitted details have been assessed by the Council’s tree and landscape officer and found to provide a suitable mix of planting and trees and are considered acceptable.

7.21 In conclusion, it is considered that the submitted details of tree planting and landscaping are appropriate and will preserve the character of the conservation area and enhance the appearance of this site. It is therefore recommended that condition 6 be discharged.

7.22 The majority of the comments received from the Merton Tree warden Group have been considered as part of this report. In response to other comments it should be noted that the original planning application included the original and existing site levels. These site levels have also been assessed by the Environment Agency and found to be acceptable.

7.23 The boundary line to the south of the Californian Laurel tree was agreed as part of the original planning application and this boundary will be marked with an open railing that will allow views of this tree. It is considered that the condition set out below requiring supervision by a qualified Arboriculturist will ensure that the installation of the new railing will not result in any damage to the Californian Laurel tree.

7.24 The railing that encloses the café terrace area will be 1.4 metres from ground level, however as the surface of the terrace is raised 0.6 metres above ground level it is not considered that the visible railing of 0.9 metres high would allow views of the new building and provide suitable permeability.

8. CONCLUSION 8.1 The submitted details to discharge the conditions 3 and 6 are considered acceptable and it is recommended that approval be given to discharge these planning conditions.

RECOMMENDATION GRANT PARTIAL DISCHARGE of conditions 3 (surface treatment) and 6 (tree planting and landscaping) attached to the planning permission under reference 06/P0320 and relating to the medical centre and front part of this site on the basis of the submitted plans and the following condition:

(1) The installation of the new two metre high railings to the south of the Californian Laurel tree and within the root protection area of this tree will be supervised by a qualified Arboriculturist with the digging of post holes carried out by hand.

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