Land to the West of Edgwarebury Farm House in the London Borough of Barnet Planning Application No
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planning report D&P/3279a/01 25 March 2015 Land to the West of Edgwarebury Farm House in the London Borough of Barnet planning application no. 15/00286/FUL Strategic planning application stage 1 referral Town & Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended); Greater London Authority Acts 1999 and 2007; Town & Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008. The proposal Creation of an 18-hole golf course with ancillary clubhouse, associated car parking and landscaping. The applicant The applicant is Bridgedown Ltd, the architect is JM Stera (clubhouse) and Dye Designs (golf course), and the agent is Enplan. Strategic issues Issues with respect to climate change and transport should be addressed before the application is referred back to the Mayor at his decision making stage. Issues with respect to agricultural land, sports and recreation facilities, Green Belt, and biodiversity are also relevant to this application. Recommendation That Barnet Council be advised that while the application is generally acceptable in strategic planning terms, the application does not yet comply with the London Plan, for the reasons set out in paragraph 59 of this report. However, the requested information could lead to the application becoming compliant with the London Plan. The application does not need to be referred back to the Mayor if the Council resolves to refuse permission, but it must be referred back if the Council resolves to grant permission. Context 1 On 20 February 2015, the Mayor of London received documents from Barnet Council notifying him of a planning application of potential strategic importance to develop the above site for the above uses. Under the provisions of The Town & Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008, the Mayor has until 2 April 2015 to provide the Council with a statement setting out whether he considers that the application complies with the London Plan, and his reasons for taking that view. The Mayor may also provide other comments. This report sets out information for the Mayor’s use in deciding what decision to make. 2 The application is referable under Category 3D of the Schedule to the Order 2008: page 1 ”Development (a) on land allocated as Green Belt or Metropolitan Open Land in the development plan, in proposals for such a plan, or in proposals for the alteration or replacement of such a plan; and (b) which would involve the construction of a building with a floorspace of more than 1,000 square metres or a material change in the use of such a building.” 3 Once Barnet Council has resolved to determine the application, it is required to refer it back to the Mayor for his decision, as to whether to direct refusal or allow the Council to determine it itself, unless otherwise advised. In this instance if the Council resolves to refuse permission it need not refer the application back to the Mayor. 4 The Mayor of London’s statement on this case will be made available on the GLA website www.london.gov.uk. Site description 5 The site is located at Bury Farm, Edgwarebury Lane, to the north of the A41 Edgware Road, south of the M1 and west of Edgwarebury Park. The boundaries of the site immediately adjoin the A41 and the M1 to the north and south, forming a triangle close to the junction of these two highways. The eastern edge of the site is partly formed by the Environment Agency’s Silk Stream flood storage area and partly by a track and bridleway extension of Edgwarebury Lane, which crosses over the M1 close to the north-eastern corner of the site. 6 Vehicular access to the site is currently via a track that forms an extension of Edgwarebury Lane. A former access from the A41 on the southern boundary is present but is currently partly blocked up and not in regular use. The south-east part of the site is crossed by a Public Footpath, the formal alignment of which runs diagonally across two fields, linking the footways along the A41 with the extension track to Edgwarebury Lane. 7 The site is just under 70 hectare and comprises mixed arable (37 hectares) and grazing (33 hectares) agricultural land, hedgerows and small woodlands. The site is notable for a number of open-grown oaks which run in informal lines across some of the fields, indicating former hedgerow boundaries, stripped out at some point in the past. There are no buildings on the site, although a 400kv overhead power line and two 56 metre high pylons run across the northern edge. 8 The A41 is part of the Transport for London road network (TLRN), while Spur Road (A410) is the nearest section of the strategic road network (SRN), some 600 metres to the south west of the site. The site is remote from any underground stations; Stanmore, the nearest, is almost 2 kilometres to the south west of the site. The nearest bus service is route 142 (Watford Junction to Brent Cross), 800 metres to the south west of the site on Stonegrove High Street. As such, the public transport accessibility level (PTAL) for the southern part of the site is very poor and estimated at 1 (based on a scale of 1 to 6 where 6 is excellent); however the northern part does not record any accessibility to public transport. Details of the proposal 9 The proposal is a full application for an 18-hole golf course, ancillary clubhouse, 103 related car parking spaces, greenkeeper’s maintenance building and hardstanding, new permissive bridleway and associated landscaping. 10 The course would be formed of two loops of nine holes, each returning to the clubhouse. The routing of the course would allow the existing trees to be retained and their root protection page 2 areas respected, apart from two live trees that would be removed for the construction of the proposed clubhouse. Small woodland areas, new hedges and scrub and woodland edge planting is proposed. Some ‘parkland tree’ planting, typically oak, would be introduced into the northern and eastern areas. 11 The clubhouse would be located centrally at one of the lowest points on the site and set down within the valley. It would be a single-storey building, of 1,245 sq.m., constructed in off- white rendered blockwork with a predominantly grassed stepped flat roof. The various roof layers would vary between 3.5 and 4.5m in height. The greenkeeper’s maintenance building of 179 sq.m. would be of a functional design and agricultural in appearance but largely screened by earth mounding and woodland planting. 12 Five water bodies would be constructed as part of the golf course design, also providing flood balancing and water storage for irrigation. A further underground water storage facility would be built under part of the practice range. A number of sand bunkers will be created and more extensive earthworks and woodland planting will be located along the northern part of the course, also providing screening to the M1 and the two National Grid pylons. 13 The arrangement and design of the course is the same as the 2013 application (see ‘case history’ below), except for minor modifications to the 2nd and 14th holes to accommodate the larger lake required for mitigation measures for Lapwings. 14 It is envisaged that the course would be built in five phases, of roughly one year each, over a period of 4 to 6 years. Each phase would take into account the management of protected species and provision of land for the equestrian business. Case history 15 On 20 November 2013, the Mayor considered a Stage One report (D&P/3279/01) for an almost identical application and subsequently advised Barnet Council that the application did not comply with the London Plan, for the following reasons; but that the suggested remedies could address these deficiencies: Principle of development: Further information is required on the current agricultural and equestrian use of the site, and visualisations of the proposed clubhouse, car park and golf course from the surrounding area. Biodiversity: The proposals would enhance biodiversity and are in conformity with the London Plan. Sustainable development: The applicant should provide an energy strategy in accordance with GLA guidance before it can be determined if the proposal is in conformity with the London Plan. Transport: Further information is required on electric vehicle changing point (EVCP) provision, cycle parking facilities, and a Construction Logistics Plan (CLP). 16 The application was subsequently withdrawn in January 2014. The applicant states that since then further consultations have been undertaken with the equestrian business and farmer who are currently tenants, the landowners, and with local representatives of London Wildlife Trust and the RSPB in respect of the ecology of the site. The applicant also discussed and provided visualisations to GLA officers. page 3 Strategic planning issues and relevant policies and guidance 17 The relevant issues and corresponding policies are as follows: Agricultural land London Plan Sports and recreation London Plan Green Belt London Plan Biodiversity London Plan; the Mayor’s Biodiversity Strategy; the Mayor’s Tree and Woodland Framework Climate change London Plan; Sustainable Design and Construction SPG; Mayor’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy; Mayor’s Climate Change Mitigation and Energy Strategy; Mayor’s Water Strategy Transport London Plan; the Mayor’s Transport Strategy Parking London Plan; the Mayor’s Transport Strategy Crossrail London Plan; Use of planning obligations in the funding of Crossrail and the Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy SPG 18 For the purposes of Section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the development plan in force for the area is the 2012 Barnet Core Strategy, the Development Management Policies DPD (2012), and the London Plan (Consolidated with Alterations since 2011).