Buckinghamshire County Council Visit www.buckscc.gov.uk/democracy for councillor information and email alerts for local meetings Development Control Committee Title: DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW BUILDING AND SPORTS FACILITIES FOR THE AYLESBURY VALE ACADEMY ON A SITE WITHIN BERRYFIELDS MAJOR DEVELOPMENT AREA. THE BUILDING CONSISTS OF A 3 STOREY ACADEMIC WING AND A 2 STOREY WING, JOINED BY A 2 STOREY LINK ON LAND TO THE NORTH OF THE A41 AND WEST OF BERRYFIELDS LANE, PART OF THE BERRYFIELDS MAJOR DEVELOPMENT AREA, AYLESBURY, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE. APPLICATION NO: CC/21/11 APPLICANT: BUCKINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL BUCKSth STREET ATLAS PAGE: 100 D4 & E4 Date: 20 December 2011 Author: Planning Group Manager Contact officer: Shereen Ansari 01296 38 2112 Electoral divisions affected: Aylesbury North Local Members: Mrs Mary Baldwin & Mr Niknam Hussain Recommendation A. That subject to no overriding objections from outstanding consultees, planning application CC/21/11 for the Development of a New Building and Sports Facilities for the Aylesbury Vale Academy on a site within the Berryfields Major Development Area, consisting of a 3 Storey Academic Wing and a 2 Storey Wing joined by a 2 Storey Link on Land to the North of the A41 and West of the Berryfields Lane, part of the Berryfields Major Development Area, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire be APPROVED subject to conditions to be determined by the Planning Group Manager including; 1. Development to commence within three years of the date of consent. 2. Details of School drop off points to be submitted to and approved in writing by the County Planning Authority. 3. Prior to occupation of the development, the new means of access to be sited and laid out in accordance with the details to be submitted and approved in writing by the County Planning Authority. 4. The submission and approval of a scheme demonstrating that service delivery provision allows for vehicles to enter and leave the site in a forward gear. 5. Prior to occupation, a School Travel Plan shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the County Planning Authority. 6. Prior to the commencement of the development, an ecological enhancement strategy and method statement shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. 7. Removal of any vegetation to be undertaken outside of the bird nesting season. 8. In the event that works have not commenced by September 2012, no works shall commence prior to the submission to and approval by the County Planning Authority of an updated Badger Survey. 9. Prior to the commencement of the development a detailed landscaping scheme shall be submitted to and approved by the County Planning Authority, including detailed drawings of the area between the school buildings and the road and the areas around the car parking area, the specification of all planting in terms of species, size and numbers of plants along with the establishment and management techniques to be applied. 10. No works shall take place within the Archaeological preservation in-situ area shown on Heritage Statement drawing number OA\13678\338\B until a detailed engineering method statement and drawings for the groundworks has been submitted to and approved in writing by the County Planning Authority. The development hereby approved shall only take place in accordance with the scheme agreed pursuant to this condition. 11. No development shall take place until such time as the applicant, their agents or successors in title have secured the implementation of a programme of archaeological work in accordance with a written scheme of investigation that has been submitted to and approved in writing by the County Planning Authority. 12. Prior to the commencement of the development, a surface water drainage scheme for the site, based on sustainable drainage principles and an assessment of the hydrological and hydro geological context of the development has been submitted to and approved in writing by the County Planning Authority. The scheme shall subsequently be implemented in accordance with the approved details before the development is completed. 13. Doors, windows and glazing installed within the proposed development shall met Secured by Design Standards B. That the reasons for approval of the application are that subject to conditions including those outlined above, the proposed development would be in accordance with policies GP.8, GP.24, GP.35, GP.38, GP.40, GP.45 and AY.13 of the AVDLP. Resources Appraisal None SUPPORTING INFORMATION 1. Theth application is submitted by Buckinghamshire Countst y Council. It was received on 17 October 2011 and sent out for consultation on 21 October 2011. The application has been advertised by site notice, neighbour notification and newspaper advertisement as a Major Development.th The eight week period for determination of the application expired on 12 December 2011. 2. The application is accompanied by a Design and Access Statement, Planning Statement, Energy Strategy Report, Phase 1 Habitat Survey and Protected Species Assessment, External Lighting Assessment, Heritage Statement, Noise Impact Assessment, Flood Risk Assessment, Reptile Survey, Site Waste Management Plan, School Travel Plan, details of Public Consultation and various floorplans and elevations. Site Description 3. The application site is located within the Berryfields Major Development Area (MDA). The MDA extends to the north and south of the A41 to the north west of Aylesbury, with the majority found on the northern side of the road, extending to the east and west of Berryfields Lane. Outline planning permission was granted in 2007 by Aylesbury Vale District Council for the use of the MDA site for 3000 dwellings, employment, a district centre, two combined schools, a secondary school, public open space and recreation facilities, park and ride and accesses. 4. Planning application CC/21/11 seeks planning permission for a new school building for the Aylesbury Vale Academy within the Berryfields MDA. The proposed new school site is located immediately to the north of the layby on the north side of the A41, and west of the existing Berryfields Lane. Currently the site is bordered to the north and west by greenfield land for which the outline planning permission referred to above applies. Once the Berryfields MDA has been completed it is anticipated that the school will be bounded to the north by the district centre. There will be a small area of residential development to the south east and a much larger crescent of residential development to the west. 5. The proposed school contains an Archaeological Notification Area and lies approximately 350m west of the Quarrendon Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM). Public Footpath no. Qur/3/1 runs alongside the River Thame to the east. The proposed school site lies on Grade 3b Agricultural Lane and is in Flood Zone 1. It also falls within the Quarrendon Fields Biological Notification Site. The nearest residential property is Berryfields Cottage which is located approximately 110m to the north of the site on the western side of Berryfields Lane, although further development is expected to take place in the surrounding area as part of the wider Berryfields development. 6. The land immediately west of the proposed academy site is expected to provide a primary school facility which has not been included in this planning application. The Application 7. The Aylesbury Vale Academy is currently located in the northern part of Aylesbury within the Quarrendon area and is attended by 850 students. The applicant has stated that parts of the current academy building are dilapidated and no longer fit for delivering a modern curriculum. This planning application therefore seeks to provide new accommodation for the academy at an alternative site that would also cater for the 3000 projected new homes to be delivered in the Berryfields Area. It is anticipated that the academy will grow steadily over the next ten years to ultimately accommodate 1500 students in total, consisting of 1200 11-16 year olds and 300 post-16 year olds. 8. Application CC/21/11 therefore proposes a new-build secondary school facility with associated sports facilities. The proposed school buildings would be sited to the north of the school site, fronting onto the Local Centre which has not yet been developed. The proposed school building would constitute a three storey academic wing to the east and a two storey sports and community wing to the west. The two wings would be joined by a link building that would house the main reception and staff accommodation. A total of 12,487 sq m of internal floorspace would be provided. 9. The academic wing would provide the main teaching space for the three specialist faculties that would be catered for within the school. These teaching areas would wrap around a central covered atrium within which the main staircase would be located, and which at ground level would provide an ‘Innovation space’ for use as an informal meeting area as well as a flexible space for curriculum delivery. This space would link throughth to the dining area and main pupil entrance. A Learning Resource Centre and 6 form block would also be provided within the academic wing. 10. The ground floor of the academic wing would contain the central atrium Innovation Space, dining and kitchen facilities, staff rooms, toilets, science labs and teaching areas and design and technology facilities. The second floor would contain Art facilities, design and technology rooms, offices, IT classrooms, Business Studies Classroom and general classrooms, as well as offices, toilets and ‘break out’ spaces. Void space would exist over the dining area and central atrium. The second floor would also contain a large amount of void space over the central atrium but would also contain the Learning Resource Centre, Sixth form areas, offices, toilets and general classrooms. 11.