Page 37 Agenda Item 9 DM2020/01805 Land At Woodcote Green Garden Centre Committee Planning Committee Committee Date 7 July 2021 Committee Chair Councillor Drew Heffernan Report From Simon Latham, Interim Strategic Director, Environment, Housing and Neighbourhoods Site Reference DM2020/01805 Site Address Land At Woodcote Green Garden Centre, Woodmansterne Lane, Wallington, SM6 0SU Time taken 33 weeks 2 days Applicant Perseus Land and Developments Limited and Barchester Health Agent Ms Laura Grimason Gillings Planning Ward(s) Affected D16 - Wallington South 1 Summary 1.1 The application seeks planning permission for the demolition of existing structures, and erection of a two storey nursing home comprising 70 bedrooms, car parking, cycle storage, bin storage, access, landscaping and other associated works. 1.2 This application has been referred to the committee because the application is a departure from the development plan and has received more than 10 letters of representation contrary to the officer’s recommendation. 2 Recommendation 2.1 To REFUSE planning permission. Summary of reasons for recommendation 2.2 The proposed development by reason of the increased height, scale, mass, bulk and solidity of the development, together with the permanence of the built form, would result in greater harm to the openness of the Green Belt than the existing glass houses on site and result in harm to the visual amenity of the Green Belt. The development is also considered to represent an overdevelopment of the site given its scale, bulk, massing and footprint which would be out of character with adjacent residential development in the area. The applicant has not sufficiently demonstrated that there are public benefits or need which outweigh the harm to the openness of the Green Belt due to the location of the site or sufficiently demonstrated there are no alternative sites. As such, the proposal Report Page 1 Agenda Item 9 Page 38 DM2020/01805 Land At Woodcote Green Garden Centre would be contrary to policies G2, D3 and H13 of the London Plan, 11, 24 and 28 of the Sutton Local Plan and paragraph 145 of the NPPF. 2.3 In the absence of a completed S106 agreement the proposal would not provide a Carbon Neutral development and would not provide a suitable Travel Plan to encourage a modal shift from car use and as such would be contrary to policies S2 and T4 of the London Plan, policies 31 and 36 of the Sutton Local Plan and the Planning Obligations SPD. 3 Background and Key Information Site and surroundings 3.1 The application site forms part of the Woodcote Green Nurseries site, and is located on the western side of Woodmansterne Lane. The site comprises glass houses which at the time of the site visit appeared to be used for the propagation of plants as well as other single storey ancillary development such as containers used for storage and oil tanks. 3.2 Access to the site is provided via an existing access to Woodmansterne Lane, south of and adjacent to no. 4 Woodmansterne Lane. The site also contains a number of mature trees and is bounded by a tall hedge which obscures views into the site, hiding views of the existing glass houses. 3.3 The surrounding area is predominantly rural in nature, with the character becoming more residential and suburban to the north and east of the site and is characterised by detached and semi-detached dwellings mainly designed in an arts and crafts style. The Green Belt continues to the south and west of the site and where the character becomes more rural and open. Site specific designations 3.4 The site has the following Local Plan designations; Metropolitan Green Belt and Archaeological Priority Area. Planning History 3.5 84/27256 – Lawful development certificate to establish the use of land and buildings as a Nursery and Market Garden was granted on 27 November 1984. 3.6 93/37610 – Erection of a replacement retail building and relocation of two existing glasshouses was granted planning permission on 27 May 1993 3.7 93/37901 – Erection of a replacement retail building and two replacement glasshouses (amendment to previously approved application no. 93/37610) was granted planning permission on 13 September 1993. Report Page 2 Page 39 Agenda Item 9 DM2020/01805 Land At Woodcote Green Garden Centre 3.8 00/45617 - Erection of five conservatories in connection with retail sales was refused on 4 April 2000. The reason for refusal is as follows: The erection, sale and display of conservatories on this site within the Metropolitan Green Belt represents an additional retail development which is not ancillary to the lawful use of the site as a nursery. As such, the proposed use is inappropriate development within the Metropolitan Green Belt and is contrary to Policy E3 of the Sutton Unitary Development Plan and Policies OE1 and OE9 of the draft revised Sutton Unitary Development Plan. 3.9 01/47008 - Erection of five conservatories for display purposes was granted planning permission on 12 February 2001. 3.10 As part of application 01/47008, the applicant submitted Counsel’s opinion on the existing use of the site at the time of that application. The Counsel opinion highlighted that the previous lawful development certificate ref:84/27256 for use as a Nursery and Market Garden specified the type of goods that could be sold which included garden equipment, sheds, greenhouses, irrigation equipment and garden furniture, which goes further than a nursery use. Further to this, the opinion highlighted permissions refs: 93/37610 and 93/37901 which referred to a retail building, and that the planning system cannot control the goods sold in a retail use, noting that it is established that Garden Centres are an old Class A1 (now Class E) retail use under the Town and Country Use Class Order 1987 (as amended). 3.11 This argument was accepted by the Council and it was acknowledged in the report recommending approval for 01/47008 that there is a strong argument that the site is being used as a Class A1 Garden Centre and that the erection of the conservatories would be in accordance with the lawful use of the site and the permission was therefore granted. 3.12 10/62338 – Erection of up to seven conservatories for sale and display was granted planning permission on 11 June 2010. Pre-application History 3.13 PRE2018/00190 - seeking advice for the erection of a 74 bed care home. 3.14 The Council objected to the proposal in principle as it was considered that the lawful use of the site was established through the Lawful Development Certificate ref: 84/27256 which was for a use of the land as a nursery and market garden. A nursery is considered as a horticultural use, and a market garden is a sui generis agricultural use. Both these uses fall under agricultural uses and therefore it was considered that the land is not previously developed for the purposes of NPPF green belt policy. The developer was advised that should a planning application be submitted it would not be supported unless other material considerations clearly outweigh the harm to the Green Belt and constitute very special circumstances. In addition, in accordance with policy 11 of the Local Plan, a needs based assessment was required and concerns were raised that the proposal represented an overdevelopment of the site. Report Page 3 Agenda Item 9 Page 40 DM2020/01805 Land At Woodcote Green Garden Centre 3.15 PRE2020/00006 - seeking advice for the erection of a 72 bed care home. 3.16 Following further investigation it was noted that under planning permission ref: 01/47008, the Council had accepted that the lawful use of the site was as a Garden Centre, which is considered to be in the former Class A1 retail use, now incorporated into the new Class E ‘Commercial, Business and Service’ use. As such, the site is considered to be previously developed land and therefore the need to provide ‘very special circumstances’ falls away. However the advice given was that the pre-application scheme would still be unacceptable in principle as the proposal would result in an increase in scale of development on the site and materially change its characteristics in a manner that would result in harm to the openness of the Green Belt. 3.17 The Council requested for an analysis of the quantitative need for a Care Home in accordance with policy 11 of the Local Plan whilst raising concerns over the contemporary design proposed and raised concerns that the proposal represented an overdevelopment of the site Design and Review Panel Feedback 3.18 The application proposal has not been presented to the Design Review Panel. 4 Application Proposals 4.1 Planning permission is sought for the demolition of existing structures, and erection of a two storey nursing home comprising 70 bedrooms, car parking, cycle storage, bin storage, access, landscaping and other associated works. 4.2 The proposed building would be located in the centre of the site and would have an irregular footprint with three wings projecting from a central element. The building would be orientated such that the front elevation would face southeast, with the wings projecting in a southwesterly direction, a northwesterly direction and a northeasterly direction. 4.3 The building would measure approximately 85 metres along the southeastern (front) elevation of the building with the southwest projecting wing measuring approximately 23 metres. The depth of the building measured from the front elevation to the rear of the northeast wing would measure approximately 65 metres with the northwestern wing projecting approximately 31 metres (measured along the southwestern elevation).