11/00860/PAC Officer: Mrs Sonia Bunn
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DEVELOPMENT CONTROL BOARD 4 August 2011 Reference: 11/00860/PAC Officer: Mrs Sonia Bunn Location: Dartford Railway Station Station Approach Dartford Kent DA1 1BP Proposal: Application for prior approval for the erection of new station building pursuant to Part 11 Condition A1 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 Applicant: Network Rail/H Milner 1 Eversholt Street London NW1 2DN Target Date: 24/08/2011 Parish / Ward: Un-Parished Area Of Dartford / Town RECOMMENDATION: Prior approval be granted SITE SPECIFIC POLICY (1) This application relates to Dartford Station, the main building, the ancillary buildings to the south and its platforms and overbridge. The station is located on Station mound to the north of Dartford town centre and is accessed by road from the east and on foot from the west, east and south. The pedestrian footpath to the south directly links to the footbridge which crosses Home Gardens; this footpath is partly owned by Network Rail. The Civic Centre lies directly to the south east of the station and the application site also takes in part of the Civic Centre visitor's car park and staff parking area. The application site also includes the access road between the station building and the platforms. THE PROPOSAL (2) Members resolved to approve details for a new station building at the Development Control Board on 20 January 2011. Some Members may recall that there were some concerns with the detail of the proposal and further details were sought through conditions. The applicants have now got a contractor on board and a new architect who has assessed the details of the original design and found that it could be made more user friendly or easy to maintain by amending some details of the design. The current proposal therefore seeks approval for variations to the original approved design. (3) The railways operator, Network Rail, has permitted development rights under Part 11, Class A of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning General Permitted Development Order (GPDO), which is related to development authorised by a local or private Act of Parliament. Section 16 of the Railway Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 still appears to provide the power to carry out works to the station and railway and this means essentially that they may erect a station building under Part 11 without requiring planning permission. However, under the terms of Part 11 details must be submitted to the Council for prior approval of the detailed plans and specifications for the erection, alteration or extension of a building or bridge and for the formation, laying out or alteration of a means of access to any highway used by vehicular traffic. (4) The proposal is to demolish the existing station building and adjacent staff accommodation buildings and provide an improved station interchange facility as a single building also containing new office accommodation for staff on the first and second floors. (5) The new station building itself is a 3-storey building of a steel frame with cladding and glazing. It will have a double height booking hall, a curved façade with a sweeping feature canopy which encompasses the whole building. The existing overbridge is to be retained and refurbished. The staff accommodation will be relocated to the first and second floors of the station building. (6) The principal changes to the approved design are that the canopy across the front of the building has been reduced in width so that it no longer oversails the Council owned land to the east and does not impinge on the path of HGVs to the west. The profile of the canopy has also been made more shallow to allow easier maintenance with access directly from the building. The door to the cycle store has also been moved and the canopy supports have been removed so that there is less obstruction of people walking around the building. (7) The applicants have also provided details of the materials of the building and propose to clad the building in an iridescent cladding material so that it will change colour dependant upon how the light falls on it, appearing blue, purple or green. This will also shimmer in the sunlight. A standing seam grey membrane will be used for the canopy roof which will be faced with a stainless steel fascia. The windows will be colour coated metal framed units and curtain wall glazing will be used of the entrance area. (8) The revised layout also allows for the replacement of some of the visitor parking for the Civic Centre once construction work has been completed. The current submission shows the change to the layout of the visitors and staff car park, so that 11 visitors’ car parking spaces and 2 motorbike spaces are provided. However, 7 staff car parking spaces are lost. The submission shows the provision 8 spaces for Council use within the adjacent station car park. (9) The existing roundabout turning area will also remain unaltered now and there will be the creation of two formal pedestrian crossing points over the road to the north of the station. (10) The removal of the existing staff buildings to the south of the station building also allows additional car parking spaces to be provided on the station car park. RELEVANT HISTORY (11) Whilst the new station building is under construction temporary access and ticket arrangements need to be put in place. These arrangements have also changed since Members were advised of them at the Development Control Board in January. Some Members will recall that the temporary ticket office was to be provided on a supported platform above the station access road. The stairs up to this platform and the existing overbridge were be located on the footway to the north of the road which resulted in a narrow pavement and users of the station arriving and leaving in a very constrained area. The temporary works also resulted in the closure of the footpath from the Home Gardens bridge to the station building. Access to the town centre was proposed to be via Station Approach Road in the interim period. The Council raised concerns about this. (12) The applicants with their contractors have since looked at the proposals again and have put forward alternative arrangements. Network Rail has now decided that the previous temporary building solutions resulted in several issues that could not be readily resolved. They have decided therefore to erect a temporary overbridge from the north-east corner of the site, north of the Approach Road which will provide access to the platforms. The remainder of the Civic Centre visitor car park will be used to accommodate a temporary ticket office with office accommodation above. Approval for these temporary buildings was granted under delegated authority in June 2011. Work to facilitate these facilities is due to start on site imminently and the visitors car park to the Civic Centre is to be closed in the first week of August. (13) The revised temporary arrangements will provide level access to the ticket office and in my opinion is a much better, less contrived solution which allows for queuing at the ticket office and should prevent some of the grouping of pedestrians at peak periods without impacting on highway safety. (14) New platform canopies will also be constructed together with new staff accommodation and a waiting shelter on the central island platform and weather shields on platforms 3 and 4. COMMENTS FROM ORGANISATIONS (15) Kent Highways Services: Confirm that the revised layout is acceptable although they suggest an informative advising that the existing road hump north of the visitor’s car park will need to be removed. (16) Environment Agency: No objection provided that a condition is imposed regarding the risk assessment of piling. (17) Environmental Health: Confirm that they have no further comments to make that were considered with regard to the previous permission. (18) Thames Water: No objection to the sewerage infrastructure and water infrastructure serving the development. They advise that the developer will require their consent for discharge of surface water if they intend to connect to a public sewer. (19) Kent Fire & Rescue Service: Advise that the means of access is considered satisfactory. NEIGHBOUR NOTIFICATION (20) No response received. RELEVANT POLICIES Dartford Local Plan (21) Policy T3 advises that the Council will promote the provision of integrated public transport facilities including interchange facilities for bus, road and rail transport. (22) Policy B1 seeks to achieve a high standard of development and design and provides criteria for application to be considered against. Dartford Local Plan Review (23) Policy TC1 seeks to permit proposals for redevelopment in the town centre which sustain and enhance the vitality and viability of the centre, enhance the visual appearance of the town centre and are of a high standard of design. Dartford Core Strategy Proposed Submission 2010 (24) Policy CS 2 of the emerging Core Strategy advises that the Council will work with partners to facilitate a new Dartford Station building and improved interchange facilities and through the redevelopment of the wider Station Mound site for mixed uses create a high quality gateway into the town centre. South East Plan (25) In my view, the policies in the South East Plan would have no material relevance in this case as the decision is of limited scale and impact in the regional context and the Council can rely on local statutory development plan policy alone DEVELOPMENT CONTROL MANAGER’S COMMENTS Key Issues (26) Part 11 of the GPDO advises that the Council may not refuse prior approval or impose conditions unless they are satisfied that the development ought to be and could reasonably be carried out elsewhere on the land and that the design or external appearance of any building would injure the amenity of the neighbourhood and is reasonably capable of modification to avoid such injury.