HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Agenda No. DEVELOPMENT CONTROL COMMITTEE 1 THURSDAY 08 FEBRUARY 2018 AT 10.00 AM ST ALBANS DISTRICT COUNCIL APPLICATION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW 6 FE SCHOOL BUILDINGS, VEHICULAR ACCESS/EGRESS ONTO THE LOWER LUTON ROAD, VEHICULAR ACCESS ONTO COMMON LANE, TWO PEDESTRIAN ACCESSES/EGRESSES ONTO COMMON LANE, CAR PARKING, CYCLE STORAGE, COACH PARKING, PLAYING FIELDS, TENNIS COURTS / MULTI-USE GAMES AREA, SURFACE WATER ATTENUATION MEASURES, HARD AND SOFT LANDSCAPING AND OTHER ASSOCIATED DEVELOPMENT AT LAND TO THE NORTH OF LOWER LUTON ROAD, HARPENDEN, HERTFORDSHIRE Report of the Chief Executive and Director of Environment Contact: ChayDempster Tel:01992556308 Local Member: David Williams Adjoining Members: Teresa Heritage/ Annie Brewster Purpose of Report 1.1 To consider application 5/2733-17 (CC0798) for construction of new 6 FE school buildings, vehicular access/egress onto the Lower Luton Road, vehicular access onto Common Lane, two pedestrian accesses/egresses onto Common Lane, car parking, cycle storage, coach parking, playing fields, tennis courts / multi-use games area, surface water attenuation measures, hard and soft landscaping and other associated development at land to the north of Lower Luton Road, Harpenden, Hertfordshire. 2. Summary 2.1 The application proposes the construction of a new 6 form of entry secondary school, sports hall, multi-use games area, playing fields, new vehicular access and egress from the Lower Luton Road, plus a service access from Common Lane and pedestrian accesses from Common Lane and the Lower Luton Road. The site is shown on the Ordnance Survey Extract (Appendix 1). 2.2 The proposed highway works in front of the site include: a right turn lane, toucan crossing to the east of Crabtree Lane, modifications to the mini-roundabout at Common Lane/Lower Luton Road junction, pedestrian footway on east side of Common Lane, and the introduction of a 30mph speed limit between Batford and Wheathampstead. The full Land to the north of the Lower Luton Road, Harpenden 5/2733-17 (CC0978) 1 package of off-site highway works, including pedestrian improvements across the wider area are set out in Appendix 2. 2.3 The site is located within the Metropolitan Green Belt and as such the application is a departure from the development plan. The extent of the Green Belt surrounding Harpenden and Wheathampstead is shown on the plan in Appendix 3. 2.4 The proposed development layout is shown on the Landscape Masterplan appended to this report (Appendix 4). 2.5 The education need statement sets out the requirement for additional secondary school capacity within the Harpenden Education Planning Area (EPA) covering Harpenden, Redbourn, Wheathampstead and the surrounding villages, indicating that there is an unmet demand in excess of 6 forms of entry by 2022/23. The map of the Harpenden Education Planning Area is appended to this report (Appendix 5). 2.6 The sequential approach to identifying suitable location(s) for meeting the rising demand considered the potential to provide additional capacity at the three Harpenden secondary school sites. Feasibility studies identified that an additional 0.6FE could possibly be provided at the St Georges School site, plus an additional 2FE at the Sir John Lawes School site. The potential to expand Roundwood Park was considered undeliverable because of the combined traffic effects generated by an expanded Roundwood Park secondary school operating alongside Roundwood primary school on the adjoining site. The 2011 highway appraisal regarded this option as being unlikely to be acceptable in highway terms. 2.7 In any event, the number of additional places that could be delivered through the potential expansion of St Georges and Sir John Lawes Schools would fall short of the required capacity. Furthermore, both of the schools have expanded their Published Admission Number (PAN) within the last decade under an agreement with the County Council and the schools have stated that they would be unwilling to expand further on a permanent basis. 2.8 The comparative site assessment 2015 (and 2017 update) identified potential sites for a new school site (or detached playing fields) within the urban areas of Harpenden, Redbourn, Wheathampstead. The assessment, which covered land within HCC ownership, commercial sites and areas of open land, concluded that there are no suitable, available and deliverable sites. 2.9 The comparative site assessment also considered potential sites on the edge of Harpenden. The site search initially identified 11 sites, later reduced to 9 sites. 2.10 The comparative site assessment considered each site against a range of environmental effects generated by the development of a new 6FE secondary school. The assessment produced a shortlist of 3 sites. Land to the north of the Lower Luton Road, Harpenden 5/2733-17 (CC0978) 2 Viability reports were produced for the 3 sites. The site with the least adverse Green Belt effects and the least number of adverse environmental effects was Site A (Land to the East of Luton Road, Harpenden); however, Site A is promoted as a housing site in the draft local plan, and the cost of acquiring the land make it undeliverable. 2.11 Of the three sites, the application site (Site F) was the least favourable in terms of construction considerations, but most favourable in terms of acquisition. Following the completion of the comparative site assessment (January 2015) the County Council entered into negotiations to purchase Site F and completed the purchase on 25 August 2017. 2.12 Having assessed the planning merits of the application, the report concludes: ▪ There is a clear, demonstrable and pressing need for additional secondary school capacity within the Harpenden EPA (until at least 2028); ▪ The level of demand in 2023 justifies the provision of 6 forms of entry of additional capacity with the Harpenden EPA; ▪ The options to expand capacity at St Georges and Sir John Lawes schools cannot meet the level of demand within the required timescales; ▪ The option of expanding capacity at Roundwood Park is undeliverable within the required timescale; ▪ There are no more suitable or available sites within the urban areas of Harpenden, Redbourn, Wheathampstead; ▪ There are no more clearly suitable sites within the Green Belt on the edges of Harpenden (that are deliverable within the required timescales) 1.1 The development of a 6FE secondary school at the application site would result in adverse impacts on the Green Belt and also in terms of landscape, transport, air quality, drainage and heritage assets, and whilst the adverse effects are mitigated as far as possible, there are likely to be residual adverse effects to landform and landuse, to the public highway and in terms of surface water flooding affecting the Lower Luton Road. Planning balance 2.12 When considering planning applications, local 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 (NPPF: Paragraph 88). 2.13 The Very Special Circumstances in this case are: Land to the north of the Lower Luton Road, Harpenden 5/2733-17 (CC0978) 3 ▪ The wider benefits of providing the level of additional secondary school capacity required within the area of need; ▪ the lack of suitable, available and deliverable sites within the urban areas of Harpenden, Redbourn, Wheathampstead; and ▪ the lack of available sites within the Green Belt (which potentially could result in less harm) that are deliverable within the required timescales 2.14 The Very Special Circumstances are considered sufficient to clearly outweigh the harm to the Green Belt and the other harm identified in this case, specifically with regard to the provisions of the NPPF (paragraph 72) which states: The Government attaches great importance to ensuring that a sufficient choice of school places is available to meet the needs of existing and new communities. Local planning authorities should take a positive, proactive and collaborative approach to meeting this requirement, and to development that would widen the choice in education. They should: give great weight to the need to create, expand or alter schools; and work with schools and promoters to identify and resolve key planning issues before applications are submitted. Recommendation 3.1 For the reasons set out above and in the main body of the report, it is recommended (a) that planning permission should be granted subject to the conditions set out below, which are necessary to make the development acceptable, relevant to planning and the development to be permitted, enforceable, precise and reasonable in all other respects, in accordance with the NPPF (Paragraph 206), subject to (b) the application is referred to the Secretary of State as a departure from the development plan for a decision as to whether or not to call in the application for his determination Conditions Timing ▪ Commencement of development: within 3 years ▪ Construction hours: 7am - 6pm Monday - Friday; Saturday 8am - 1pm; ▪ Sports facilities: hours of use: 8am to 9pm Monday - Saturday; Sunday 9am to 7pm General requirements ▪ Vehicular and pedestrian access: implemented in accordance with approval plans ▪ Travel Plan: 56% sustainable travel modal split (specified in the Travel Plan version 3) to be delivered, maintained and monitored on an annual basis, in accordance