The Development Management Team Leader summarised his report to the meeting, including the relevant planning history of the site. He also made reference to the environmentally sustainable merits of the development.

The Chair then invited the agent for the applicant, Nick Green of Savills to address the meeting.

Mr Green gave a brief submission where he stressed the value of this development and that it met a need for accommodation for families and community with the added attraction of being close to the town centre. 

The Chair summed up the application and explained some of the history where the application had been withdrawn from a previous agenda to allow the applicant to address identified issues.  He commended the applicant for the work they had done to improve the design of the proposals and commended the application to the meeting.  He then invited questions. 

Questions were asked around three areas:

·      The density of the development and access to light for some premises.

·      Suitable access and would this affect Cardiff Road and/or the emergency access to the hospital along Thomas Sawyer Way.

·      The development’s green credentials with regard to electric vehicle charging and access to the Watford bike hire scheme.

These points were all addressed.  Density was a response to housing need and the need for places for people to live.  The density here met with current policy.  As for the access to light, this was significantly improved from the previous proposals and only a very small proportion of the units had more limited access to natural light.  

The application clearly detailed that there would be no vehicular access to the development from Cardiff Road, although bicycle and pedestrian access would be allowed.  All access would be via Thomas Sawyer Way.  This would not impinge on emergency access to the hospital for ambulances or similar, because the road had been designed with all the required access in mind.  Thomas Sawyer Way has excess capacity with very low traffic flows. 

There was already a condition dealing with charging points for electric vehicles (condition 16).  The Watford (Beryl) bike scheme was still very new and the intention was to continue provision of further bike hire stations to meet customer usage and demand. 

There followed general support for the application. 

The Chair asked the Head of Development Management if he would deliver his decision. 

DECISION –

The Head of Development Management commented that the committee was clearly in support of the application and he noted the following:

·      The density was 89 dwellings per hectare, which seemed to be a reasonable figure, given the type of housing.

·      The number of social rented dwellings was policy compliant. 

·      The access to daylight affected just 7% of the total rooms. 

That planning permission be granted subject to the Section 106 provisions and the conditions contained in Section 8 of the officer’s report, listed below:

Conditions

1.         The development to which this permission relates shall be begun within a period of 3 years commencing on the date of this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65