DELEGATED REPORT FOR THE APPROVAL OF COUNTY COUNCIL PLANNING APPLICATIONS Authorised by: Planning Applications Team Leader …..……M R Hankin……….…….Date 18/10/17… Team Manager, Development Management/Group Manager ..……………Jonathan Smith..…………Date 19/10/2017 Planning Proposal: Demolition and replacement of a single storey two classroom mobile and associated external works Location: Lake View Primary School, Rainworth Water Road, Rainworth Applicant: NCC Children, Families and Cultural Services Application No.: 3/17/01415/CMA 1. Site description – see site plan/photographs Lake View Primary School lies to the north-west of Joseph Whittaker School and to the south-west of residential development on Rainworth Water Road, Rainworth. Rainworth Lakes SSSI, noted for the best examples of base-poor marsh and open water plant communities, lies to the west. The site lies within the Nottinghamshire Green Belt. The 210 place school is accessed from Rainworth Water Road. 150 places are provided in five classrooms. A further 60 places are provided in a two-classroom mobile building which has been granted a succession of time-limited renewals after first being erected in 2000. The building has a footprint 18m x 7.85m and has a ramped access. An area of outdoor hard play lies immediately to the north- west of the building and is marked for netball court and two basketball courts. The building is located close to the site boundary and the nearest residential properties are 35 and 37 Rainworth Water Road. Mature planting is established along the site boundary. A silver birch in the garden of the caretaker’s bungalow overhangs the eastern corner of the mobile classroom. A semi-mature alder is established in a planting bed to the west of the mobile classroom outside the original CLASP school building. 4366-6m Core teaching hours at the school are 08:45 – 15:30 hours. No details of the number of staff currently employed have been submitted in support of the application. 2. Description of proposals Planning permission is sought to erect a replacement two-classroom building generally on the site of the existing mobile building. The building would have a footprint 19.5m x 8.9m and would have a grey coloured single-ply membrane mono-pitch roof rising from 3.4m to 4.1m in height. Walls would be finished in a burnt-red colour (although beige RAL 7044 is also referenced in the application) above a red-brick plinth. The fascia, guttering and rainwater goods would be coloured light grey (RAL 7042). uPVC door and window frames are proposed. Photovoltaic (PV) units would be installed on the roof. The building would be sited marginally further to the north-west than at present. An access path would be provided to the rear of the building. The area in front of the north-west facing elevation would be graded to provide level access to the building without the need for a ramp and handrail. A netball court could be marked on the remaining outdoor hard play court. The proposed development would not increase the capacity of the school and no changes to staff numbers or car parking spaces are proposed. In order to build the development the outdoor hard play area would be used as a construction compound. Access to the area from a turning area adjacent to the caretaker’s bungalow is narrow and would need to address a change in site levels. The semi-mature alder would be crown lifted to facilitate access. The silver birch to the north-east of the proposed classroom would be retained. 3. Consultations Newark and Sherwood District Council – No objection subject to NCC being satisfied that the proposal complies with relevant development plan policies and no impact on the openness of the Green Belt, or adverse impact on neighbours by way of undue noise, nuisance or increased traffic generation. NCC Highways Development Control – No objection. The proposal is a replacement classroom with no increase in pupil numbers. Sport England – No objection. The proposed development meets Sport England Playing Field Policy Exception E3 in that the development affects only land incapable of forming, or forming part of, a playing pitch. 4366-6m NCC Nature Conservation – No objection. Pre-application advice has been provided to the applicant which has been submitted as part of the application. NCC Landscape – No objection. The landscape impact of the proposal would be ‘substantial beneficial’. The silver birch will mitigate the visual impact of the proposed building and will need to be protected during construction. NCC Project Engineer (Noise) – No objection subject to a condition to control construction noise. There is potential for noise and disturbance from construction plant activities and delivery vehicles. The proposal will replace an existing temporary classroom building. With no increase in the number of children attending activity noise levels should be unchanged. NCC Land Reclamation - No objection subject to a condition for a watching brief for unexpected contamination. The watching brief condition should address the “potential of discard materials within infilled ground adjacent to the development site”. A number of soakaway (falling head) tests have proved inconclusive. A tank/sump appears to receive drainage and should be investigated as a potential soakaway option. Western Power Distribution – No objection. Apparatus has been identified on the site. Cadent (Gas) - No objection. Apparatus has been identified on the site. Rainworth Parish Council, Police Force Architectural Liaison Officer, NCC Flood Risk and Severn Trent Water Limited - No response received. 4. Publicity and representations The application has been advertised by site notice and neighbour notification in accordance with the County Council’s Adopted Statement of Community Involvement Review. Councillor Yvonne Woodhead has been notified of the application. No representations have been received. 5. Observations The Lake View Primary School campus and Joseph Whitaker School to the east lie within the Nottingham-Derby Green Belt. Policy 4B of the Newark and Sherwood Core Strategy details that appropriate development in the Green Belt should be judged according to National Green Belt policy. National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) Paragraph 89 states that new buildings in Green Belt should be regarded as inappropriate development with specific exceptions, including ‘the replacement of a building, provided the new building is in the same use and not materially larger than the one it replaces.’ The development is not considered to be inappropriate development and the application has not been advertised as a ‘Departure’. The proposed building would be of a similar scale and character to the building it would replace. The building would be well positioned in relation to existing 4366-6m buildings on the site and residential development to the north and would not be located on more open areas of the school to the west (which could have an unacceptable impact on the openness of the Green Belt). In considering development in the Green Belt NPPF Paragraph 88 states that ‘when considering any planning application, local planning authorities should ensure that substantial weight is given to any harm to the Green Belt. ‘Very special circumstances’ will not exist unless the potential harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm, is clearly outweighed by other considerations’. The school is long-established in the Green Belt. The demand for school places has been demonstrated through a requirement for temporary accommodation which has been renewed on successive occasions and the provision of permanent accommodation in a building which is not materially larger than that which it would replace is considered to outweigh potential harm to the Green Belt. The scale, siting and design of the two-classroom building is considered to be acceptable and in compliance with Newark & Sherwood LDF Allocations and Development Management DPD Policy DM5 Design – 3 Amenity (which seeks to safeguard against reduction of amenity through the distance between developments, overbearing impacts, loss of light and privacy). A full schedule of facing materials has not been submitted but having regard to the siting of the building it is considered that no additional details are required to be submitted. No change is proposed in terms of pupil numbers, or the location of outdoor play areas and the outdoor noise environment will not change. However, construction has the potential to cause noise disturbance and it is recommended that the times of construction are controlled and that deliveries to site are restricted so as not to conflict with the school start and finish times (Condition 8). A watching brief for unexpected contamination which may be encountered is the subject of recommended Condition 4. Although a soakaway is proposed and is the most sustainable form of surface water drainage, the Geo-Environmental Desk Top Study supporting the application recommends that soakaway testing is carried out to inform the drainage options appraisal. Design details have not been provided and it has not been evidenced that a soakaway will work in this location. A drainage condition is recommended to require the submission of design details for the disposal of surface water (Condition 7). The proposed surface water drainage run is shown to pass beneath the canopy of the silver birch tree to the immediate north-east of the proposed building. Care will need to be taken to safeguard the health of tree and the submission of a methodology for works beneath the canopy of the tree are the subject of recommended Condition 6. Construction access to the hard play area is restricted. The passage of vehicles beneath the crown-raised alder may impact on the tree root system and details of how impacts on the tree will be safeguarded during construction will need to be submitted (Condition 5). 6. Other Options Considered The report relates to the determination of a planning application.