The CEO of the company behind a controversial scheme to redevelop the Station Stores site says the plans are “technically compliant” and should be accepted.
This Land – a company wholly owned by Cambridgeshire County Council – has submitted a planning application to build 28 apartments and retail units.
The development will be known as Kendal Court and, if given the go-ahead, would require demolishing the existing Station Stores building and the premises occupied by Stebbings Funeral Directors. Both businesses remain open as usual.
But residents and a number of consultees have shared their concerns about the scheme, mainly that there are only four parking spaces being proposed. One will be allocated as disabled parking, and the other three will be associated with a car sharing scheme.
‘Meets policy’
Rob Williams, This Land’s CEO, shared Kendal Court’s progress with councillors at Cambridgeshire County Council’s last Shareholder Sub-committee meeting on 17 February.
After mentioning H&I residents “would very much like it not to get through planning”, Councillor Ros Hathorn then asked the CEO how confident he is the application would be successful.
In response, he said: “… we spend a lot of time with the planning officers, we’ve responded to [planning] policy and we believe it fully meets policy.
“We’ve done the parking surveys. They weren’t submitted with the application because they’re not required to be, but we have them and we have submitted them in response to consultations to demonstrate there isn’t an issue.”
Mr Williams added: “I appreciate there is an emotive view of parking but all we can respond with is the technical position which is positive and supports [the application].
“On the face of it, it responds to policy, the statutory responses we have dealt with technically and we’ve submitted that to the officers. So we would expect, therefore, for those consultation responses to be resolved and therefore for it to be accepted […] So it would be a very strong candidate were it to go for appeal I would imagine.”
Earlier in the meeting, he explained the project is around five months behind schedule because “the scheme evolved” into “a zero-parking” development after pre-application discussions with planners. There was also consultation with the Parish Council and local councillors that led to further changes before the application was submitted at Christmas.
The public consultation window closed at the end of January.
Appeal
This Land has a number of sites where it is trying to gain planning permission.
Last week, it was revealed the company is trying to overturn a Cambridge City Council decision which blocked plans to build new homes next to an oil depot.
The company has now launched an appeal to try and get permission granted to build 12 new homes on land off Ditton Walk. City Council refused the development last year after “significant” concerns were raised about the impact of noise from the neighbouring oil depot on the people living in the proposed new homes.
Planning officers said they recognised that mitigation measures had been proposed to reduce the impact of the noise, including a 2.5 metre or 3.5 metre high fence along the boundary between the depot and the houses. Mechanical ventilation was also proposed to be installed in the homes to reduce the need for people to open their windows.
However, officers said there was a disagreement between them and the developer on how the noise impact had been measured.
Officers said there was also an “agent of change concerns”, saying there was a risk of people moving into the homes and complaining about the noise at the oil depot, which could possibly lead to unreasonable restrictions placed on the business. Councillors agreed unanimously to refuse the planning application.
This Land has requested an informal hearing as part of its appeal.
Planning reform
Meanwhile, the City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council have been discussing proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) being put forward by the Government to speed up planning decisions.
A consultation into the changes is currently ongoing. The proposals generally move towards a more rules-based and nationally standardised system. Local policies can still be set, but would not be able to deviate from the national framework.
There is also greater emphasis on building around railway stations in the future, even if that affects the Green Belt. A new tier of strategic planning will be created at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority responsible for preparing a Spatial Development Strategy. This would set housing and job numbers around the county, identify new areas of growth and set infrastructure policies.
Councillors from both councils expressed serious concerns about the NPPF proposals, and the potential impact in the Greater Cambridge area, at the Joint Planning Advisory meeting on Monday (23 February).
It was felt there is a perceived move towards centralisation of planning powers, the changes would reduce local views on applications, local character could potentially be lost and “levelling down” of the area’s environmental ambitions.
The proposals for Kendal Court are available on the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service’s planning portal.
Additional reporting by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
READ MORE: Parish Council recommends refusal of Kendal Court proposals, Concerns over ‘sheer lack of parking’ in Kendal Court proposals, New plans for Station Stores site made public, Funeral director told to leave premises of 21 years for new development
It should be a car park for the guided busway