Item 8A Appendix a to Report for Saint Felix School
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APPENDIX A PLANNING COMMITTEE – 11 JULY 2017 APPLICATION NO DC/15/3288/OUT LOCATION Saint Felix School Halesworth Road Reydon Suffolk EXPIRY DATE 31 July 2017 APPLICATION TYPE Outline Application APPLICANT Saint Felix School PARISH Reydon PROPOSAL Outline Application to enable improvements to Saint Felix School to include residential development, public open space and associated infrastructure on the former playing field at Saint Felix School DO NOT SCALE SLA100042052 Reproduced from the Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. 1. SUMMARY 1.1 This application seeks outline planning permission for the construction of up to 69 residential dwellings together with areas of public open space and associated infrastructure within the grounds of St Felix School, Southwold. 1.2 The application is a Major Development Proposals which has attracted a significant level of local interest and it is for these reasons that the application is presented to Planning Committee. 73 1.3 The application was amended in August 2016 to introduce an additional area of open space on the part of the application site that backs onto St Georges Square. The amendment resulted in a reduction in the number of houses being proposed from 71 to 69. 1.4 The application is submitted in outline, with all matters other than for the point of access into the site from Halesworth Road, reserved for later approval. 1.5 St Felix School has developed a Business Plan which identifies a number of physical works to the school premises and its grounds that the School considers necessary to ensure its continued sustainable operation. 1.6 The School is without the necessary funds to deliver the physical improvements that are set out within the Business Plan. 1.7 The School is seeking planning permission for residential development on land within its ownership in order to ring fence the receipts of the land sale and use the monies to deliver essential physical improvements to the School’s infrastructure. 1.8 The proposed residential scheme is considered as a form of “enabling” development. 1.9 The application is accompanied by an indicative masterplan, showing one way in which the proposed 69 residential dwellings may be accommodated on the site. This plan does not form part of the application documentation to be considered for approval. 1.10 Section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 states that an application should be determined in accordance with the Development Plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. 1.11 Paragraph 14 of the National Planning Policy Framework requires Local Planning Authorities to approve development proposals that accord with the development plan without delay; and where the development plan is absent, silent or relevant policies are out of date, granting permission unless: - any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in this Framework taken as a whole; or - specific policies in this Framework indicate development should be restricted. 1.12 In this instance the development plan comprises the Waveney District Council Core Strategy and Development Management Policies. 1.13 With the Council capable of demonstrating a deliver 5 year supply of housing ‘full weight’ can be given to the policies of the Council’s Development Plan as they relate to the scale and distribution of new housing. 1.14 The application site is located outside of the defined development limits as set by Policy DM01 and is to be regarded as being within the ‘countryside’. The development does not satisfy any of the exceptions specified under Policy DM22 concerning development in the Open Countryside and is considered contrary to the Council’s Development Plan Policies as they relate to the distribution of new housing development. 1.15 However, the application is for “enabling” development that has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Council’s independent valuer, in that it is intrinsically linked and essentially necessary in the manner proposed, to secure the long term sustainable operation of the School. 1.16 National Policy is clear that, in the case of “enabling” development, local planning authorities should assess whether the benefits of a proposal for the enabling development, 74 which would otherwise conflict with planning policies, will outweigh the disbenefits of departing from those policies. 1.17 The appropriateness or otherwise of the proposed development in this instance comes down to one of ‘planning balance’. 1.18 The provision of new residential accommodation for Southwold and Reydon is considered of some benefit in assisting the Council in maintaining a deliverable supply of market and affordable housing. However, given the Council’s ability to demonstrate a deliverable 5 year supply, this benefit can be afforded only limited merit. The development should also be considered within the context of supplying investment in the local economy with jobs and capital spends in the local area during the development phase and supporting / enhancing employment directly and indirectly from the school. 1.19 The benefits of the proposed development are most evident in the physical improvements and additional facilities that will be delivered at the School which are listed in earlier sections of this report. These benefits are capable of being secured and delivered through the provision and agreement of an Investment Schedule and Phasing Programme to be secured through a Section 106 Agreement. 1.20 The applicant has demonstrated to the satisfaction of Sport England that the playing pitches to be lost through the proposed development may be re-provided within the School grounds to equal if not better quality. The School’s commitment to enter into a community use agreement to allow the improved facilities to be used by local community groups is considered of some benefit. 1.21 The impacts of the proposed development have been documented within the planning appraisal section of this report and have been demonstrated through the technical reports accompanying the application, to be capable of being mitigated to an acceptable level through the proposed conditions and measures set out within the Section 106 Agreement. These include the provision of new Accessible Natural Green Spaces and other measures required to avoid recreational pressure on nearby designated sites. 1.22 Whilst the application involves development within the AONB there is an intrinsic requirement for the development to be located within the School Site and the impact of the development upon the site, given its low to moderate landscape sensitivity, can be effectively mitigated through appropriate landscape treatment in accordance with the intentions of Policy DM27 and National Policy relating to designated landscape areas. 1.23 The impact of the proposed development upon the local highway network, ground conditions, flood risk and drainage has been deemed acceptable by statutory consultees, subject to appropriate mitigation being secured through planning conditions or legal agreement. 1.24 In light of the above, the proposed development is deliverable, enabling development that delivers discernible benefits to the School and to the local community. 1.25 After the application of appropriate mitigation the detrimental impacts of the development are not considered of such significance so as to demonstrably outweigh these planning benefits. 1.26 The application is recommended for conditional approval. 2. SITE DESCRIPTION 2.1 St Felix School (’the School’) is located to the west of Reydon on the A1095 Halesworth Road which connects the A12 to the Reydon and Southwold. 75 2.2 The School site comprises 28 hectares and is divided into two almost equally sized parts by Shepard’s Lane. All of the School buildings and many of its playing fields are located to the west of Shepard’s Lane. The land to the east comprises additional playing fields and an equestrian area. 2.3 The application site is located on the eastern side of Shepard’s Lane and comprises 2.47 ha of grassland that is partially (1.6ha) used as rugby and hockey pitches. The site is rectangular shape and slopes in a south easterly direction. 2.4 Halesworth Road forms the northern boundary to the site, albeit it is visually and physically separated from the site by a well established tree belt that is protected by a series of Tree Preservation Order (‘TPO’) Groups. To the west of the site is a development of 20 residential properties known as St Georges Square, built as enabling development in the early 2000s. To the east is a late 20th Century housing development and to the south is open greenspace, currently used by the School on an infrequent basis, for equestrian sports. 2.5 The site is located outside the defined physical development limits of the Main Town of Southwold and Reydon and is within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (‘the AONB’) and within an area of Heritage Coast. 2.6 The St Felix School Grounds (Waveney 74) County Wildlife Site (CWS) lies to the immediate south of the application redline boundary albeit within the School’s ownership and a number of European Designated Sites, including the Minsmere-Walberswick Special Protection Area (SPA) and Minsmere-Walberswick Heath and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) are located within 1 km of the Site. 2.7 The School, whilst not statutorily or locally listed, is of architectural and historic merit and may be considered as a non designated heritage asset. 3. PROPOSAL 3.1 This application seeks outline planning permission for the construction of up to 69 residential dwellings together with areas of public open space and associated infrastructure within the grounds of St Felix School, Southwold.