DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE 15th FEBRUARY 2021 Case No: 19/01445/FUL (FULL PLANNING APPLICATION) Proposal: DEMOLITION OF EXISTING BUILDINGS, ERECTION OF MOTORWAY SERVICE AREA (A SUI GENERIS USE) COMPRISING OF AN AMENITY BUILDING, FUEL STATION, PARKING AND ANCILLARY DEVELOPMENT Location: LAND BETWEEN TOLL BAR WAY AND GREAT NORTH ROAD SAWTRY Applicant: MOTO HOSPITALITY LIMITED Grid Ref: 517651 282511 Date of Registration: 22.07.2019 Parish: SAWTRY RECOMMENDATION - APPROVE subject to the prior completion of a S106 Agreement relating to the following issues, and subject to conditions to include those summarised below: * Off-site biodiversity measures * £6,000 bond for future highway measures to prevent parking on local roads OR REFUSE in the event that the obligation referred to above has not been completed and the applicant is unwilling to agree to an extended period for determination, or on the grounds that the applicant is unwilling to complete the obligation necessary to make the development acceptable This application is referred to the Development Management Committee (DMC) as it is a Departure from the Development Plan as it is for significant development within the countryside and does not accord with any of the specific and limited opportunities for development in the countryside as set out in Huntingdonshire’s Local Plan to 2036. 1. DESCRIPTION OF SITE AND APPLICATION 1.1 The application site covers an area of approximately 4.59 hectares and is located to the south of Sawtry, just off junction 15 of the A1(M). The red line boundary includes part of the highway where works are proposed and includes the landscaped boundaries to the site that are owned by Cambridgeshire County Council and Highways England. The developable site area extends to 2.56 hectares. 1.2 The site is broadly oval in shape and tapers to the south. It is accessed via the roundabout to the west of the A1(M) via Toll Bar Way. The roundabout to the north of the site has a slip road back on to the motorway running parallel to Fen Lane. The roundabout also provides access into Sawtry via Green End Road. There is a clear separation between Sawtry and the roundabout, which is approximately 75 metres beyond the edge of the village, which is identified as a Key Service Centre by Policy LP8 of the Huntingdonshire Local Plan to 2036. Given the clear separation between the site and the village, the site lies within the countryside. 1.3 The application site contains a number of buildings that are located centrally on the site adjacent to the boundary with the A1(M): * A disused motel; * A vacant dwelling associated with a former fuel filling station that has been demolished; and * A former Little Chef now used as an adult shop. 1.4 Outside of this previously developed land the application site also comprises three parcels of land two of which are overgrown and the other, closer to Toll Bar Way is used for horse grazing. The periphery of the site is owned by Highways England and the County Highway Authority and so the developable site is currently well screened by a thick belt of mature shrub planting, hedges and trees. 1.5 Beyond the site there is open countryside to the east beyond the motorway, as well as to the south and west. To the north the closest dwelling is approximately 210 metres from the developable site boundary. There is a closer dwelling, but this lies on the opposite site of the motorway and on the opposite side of the Old North Road, the B1043, that runs parallel to the motorway. 1.6 The site is identified within the Environment Agency Maps for Flooding and the Council’s Strategic Flood Risk Assessment 2017 as lying within Flood Zone 1, land with the lowest likelihood of flooding. 1.7 The site is mostly within agricultural land classified as Grade 2 and part within Grade 3. In this instance, the percentage of previously developed land represents 30% of the developable area of the site. 70% of the developable site area, which excludes the land on the periphery of the site that is owned by Highways England and the County Highway Authority but including the three parcels of land, is either previously undeveloped and overgrown or is land that is used for grazing horses. The existing buildings on the site total 1,567 square metres of floorspace. The buildings proposed comprise 1,953 square metres of floorspace – an increase of 346 square metres or an increase of 19.76%. 1.8 There are no designated heritage assets within proximity of the site. The Aversley Wood Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Ancient Woodland lies approximately 750 metres to the west. 1.9 The application proposes the demolition of the existing buildings and the development of a motorway service area (MSA) comprising an amenity building, fuel station, parking and ancillary development. In detail the application includes the following components: * A new amenity building on the northern part of the site comprising 1,684 square metres of floorspace. The building has a mezzanine level and measures 48.6 metres by 35.3 metres with a maximum height of 8.5 metres. It has a curved standing seam metal roof, with a lower eaves level to Toll Bar Way, and is faced with brick and Kingspan cladding. * A service yard to the north of amenity building providing HGV delivery and turning areas, site refuse provision, compactors, a biomass boiler and staff cycle parking. * A new traffic light-controlled junction located centrally on the western side of the site and closure of the three existing access points on the western boundary of the site to Toll Bar Way. * Vehicle parking on either side of a central access road. The northern part of the parking area provides 156 car parking spaces 10 of which are for disabled drivers, 8 coach spaces, 10 motorcycles spaces and 4 caravan spaces. 12 electric charging points are provided. 6 spaces for staff vehicles are provided within the gated service yard to the north of the amenity building. Secure parking for 10 staff bicycles is also provided. * The southern parking area provides 31 HGV spaces and a fuel filling station together with 88 square metres of retail floorspace providing sales and payment counters, a food and drink servery, customer toilets and storerooms and offices as well as ancillary parking including 7 further HGV spaces and 8 further car parking spaces, one of which is for disabled drivers. The fuel filling area is covered by a canopy that is 6 metres high. * Widening of Toll Bar Way to provide left and right lanes turning into the site, a traffic light controlled junction at the site access and a tactile paving crossing point to a new pedestrian access to the amenity building from Toll Bar Way. * Internal and peripheral landscaping and other works including a 3 metre tall acoustic fence to the north and east boundaries of the developable site area. 1.10 The application sets out that the proposed service area would be signed to northbound traffic on the A1(M) only. The toilet and changing facilities are free and open every hour of every day of the year (24 hours, 365 days a year) in accordance with the requirements for signed motorway service areas. 1.11 The proposed facilities within the amenity building comprise the following: * Greggs – 95 square metres * WHSmith – 92 square metres * M&S – 93 square metres * Burger King – 87 square metres * KFC – 98 square metres * Costa – 86 square metres * Toilets, changing facilities and showers * Staff facilities in a mezzanine level * General seating area of 139 square metres 1.12 The applicant’s Planning Statement states that the development would create around 121 full time equivalent jobs. 1.13 The submitted Arboricultural Survey and Impact Assessment shows that there is just one significant tree on the site that lies within the buffer land and not within the developable site area. The Survey shows a total of 11 groups of trees and 3 hedgerows within the larger site. Of these, all three hedgerows within the developable site area are removed. A section of the existing buffer planting is to be removed to facilitate access and two groups of trees within the site are lost and one further partially removed. One of the groups removed comprises Cypress Leylandii and the other are hawthorn trees within a central hedge that defines the boundary between the two fields on the site. 1.14 The application has been amended through its lifetime to improve detailed design and landscaping and to revise parking numbers in accordance with the minimum requirements set out in Department for Transport Circular 02/2013 ‘The Strategic Road Network and the Delivery of Sustainable Development’. 1.15 The application is supported by the following documents and reports: * Design and Access Statement * Planning Statement * Ecology Assessment Report * Biodiversity Net Gain Assessment * Offset Site Ecological Management Plan * Noise Reports * Air Quality Assessment * Transport Assessment * Sustainability Assessment * Statement of Community Involvement * Socio and Economic Statement * Alternative Sites Assessment * Lighting Report * Ground Investigations Report * Framework Travel Plan * Drainage Strategy Report * Archaeological Desk-based Assessment * Arboricultural Survey and Impact Assessment * Rapid Health Impact Assessment * Technical Note – Staff Parking Update * Technical Note – Parking Numbers Update * Technical Note – Response to Extra Group Objections * Technical Note – Response to Cambridgeshire County Council * Technical Note – Response to Lead Local Flood Authority 1.16 With regard to the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, the proposed development, in a slightly different form that included the retention of the hotel on the site, was screened in October 2015 (15/70168/SCRE) as it comprised Schedule 2 development that exceeded the threshold of 0.5 hectare set out in the regulations.