Agenda item

Demolish existing office building and workshops at no. 200 Rickmansworth Road and existing Ford dealership at no. 204 Rickmansworth Road and replace with new motor vehicle dealership with showroom, workshop and forecourt for display of vehicles.

The Committee received the report of the Head of Development Management, including the relevant planning history of the site and details of responses to the application.

The Principal Planning Officer introduced the report, explaining that the application was to demolish the existing buildings at 200-202 (industrial buildings) and 204 (a Ford car dealership) Rickmansworth Road.  A new, larger car showroom would be built on the site. 

The Chair invited Margaret Walsh to speak on behalf of local residents in objection to the application.

Mrs Walsh explained that she was representing the concerns of a local residents to the application site.  These centred on a number of detailed concerns, including:

·        contamination from the fuel tanks from the former filling station, which had been inadequately addressed in the applicant’s Remedial Strategy document.  Residents considered that further investigative work should be undertaken by the Environment Agency

·        the need for greater noise abatement in the form of a requirement for the garage to keep its doors closed

·        parking issues, particularly the displacement effect of vehicles to the surrounding streets during the frequent vehicle deliveries.  In addition, local residents expressed on-going concerns about parking by workers and visitors to the garage on local roads.  This was particularly problematic at Royal Court

·        detrimental impact of external lighting

·        disturbance caused by engines idling.

Residents considered that the site would be better used for housing rather than industrial purposes.

Following a request from the Chair to clarify the issues about the contamination assessment, the Principal Planning Officer commented that the Council had accepted residents’ concerns and included an additional condition (4) in the officer recommendation. 

In response to Councillor Bashir’s query about whether it would be possible to impose a further condition to meet residents’ concerns about noise abatement by requiring that the doors of the vehicle serving workshop be kept closed at all times, the Principal Planning Officer advised that any conditions would need to be reasonable and enforceable.  It would not be possible to monitor the garage all the time to impose such a condition.

Councillor Derbyshire commented that as ward Councillor he had not received any complaints from local residents regarding on-going parking issues in the area as a consequence of the garage business.

The Chair moved the officer recommendation.

RESOLVED –

That planning permission be granted subject to the following conditions:

Conditions

1          The development to which this permission relates shall be begun within a period of three years commencing on the date of this permission.

2          Construction of the development hereby permitted shall not take place before 8am or after 6pm Mondays to Fridays, before 8am or after 1pm on Saturdays and not at all on Sundays and Public Holidays.

3          The development shall be carried out in accordance with the following drawings and documents, unless otherwise approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority:  drawing AR57015-100 revision E,  drawing AR57015-101 revision E,  drawing AR57015-102 revision F,  drawing AR57015-103 revision F,  drawing AR57015-104 revision B,  drawing AR57015-105 revision F,  drawing AR57015-106 revision A,  drawing AR57015-107 revision A,  drawing AR57015-110 revision B,  drawing 12050-SK005 revision P1, Design and Access Statement, Design Proposal Document, Transport Statement

4          No work shall commence at 204 Rickmansworth Road (although it may commence at 200-202) until a Groundworks Specification and Method Statement has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority, including an analysis of the ground and of any contaminants or potential sources of contamination that are found there, and details of the proposed method for removing them or rendering them safe. 

5          The vehicle showroom shall not be occupied until details of the refuse and recycling stores have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. 

6          No external lighting shall be installed unless it has been approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.  Any details submitted for approval shall include the position, height and angle of the lighting, the maximum level of illumination in candelas per square metre, and an assessment of its likely impacts on the safety of passing traffic and on the amenity of neighbouring premises

7          The development permitted by this planning permission shall be carried out in accordance with the approved drainage strategy report carried out by Campbell Reith Consulting Engineers reference 12050 dated 11 November 2015 and the following mitigation measures detailed within the Drainage Strategy Report:

1.      Limiting the surface water run-off rates to 40l/s.

2.      Implementing appropriate sustainable urban drainage measures as shown on drawing no. 12050-CD02 P3 title Proposed Drainage Layout.

3.      Provide storage volume of 87.4m3 to ensure no increase in surface water run-off volumes for all rainfall events up to and including the 1 in 100 year + climate change event.

8          The vehicle showroom shall not be occupied until a maintenance plan detailing key operations and management has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority to demonstrate that the proposed rainwater drainage scheme can be adopted and maintained for its lifetime.  

9          No loading or unloading of cars to or from any car transporter associated with the use of the site shall take place except within the boundary of the application site as denoted on drawing no AR57015-110 revision B.

Informatives

1          For details of how the Local Planning Authority has reached its decision on this application please refer to the planning officer's report, which can be obtained from the Council's website www.watford.gov.uk, where it is appended to the agenda of the Development Management Committee meeting of 28 January 2016; and also to the minutes of that meeting.

2          In dealing with this application, Watford Borough Council has considered the proposal in a positive and proactive manner having regard to the policies of the development plan as well as paragraphs 186 and 187 of the National Planning Policy Framework and other material considerations, and in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015.  We advised the applicants that the scheme was unacceptable as it had originally been presented, and we allowed an extension of time to enable them to revise their scheme and submit further drawings and supporting documents and to allow for further public consultation.

3          The development that is hereby approved is liable for contributions under the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).  Please contact the Planning Support team at Watford Borough Council (tel 01923 278327) if you have any queries about the procedure to be followed as regards making those contributions prior to the commencement of the development.

4          This permission does not remove the need to obtain any separate consent, which may be required under the Buildings Act 1984 or other building control legislation. Nor does it override any private rights which any person may have relating to the land affected by this decision.  To find more information and for advice as to whether a Building Regulations application will be required please visit www.watfordbuildingcontrol.com.