Issue - meetings

The Principal Planning Officer delivered her report and the committee noted that an update sheet had been provided to them and also published to the wider public on the council’s website.  

The Chair then invited Mr Peter Jeffery, of Sphere 25 to address the committee. 

Mr Jeffery explained that this application followed extensive consultation that had taken place since 2018.  A great deal of hard work had been put into it to ensure that this was a worthy application.  The High Street North and Cultural Hub plan identified this as a suitable brownfield site for development.  It had been identified that complete redevelopment of this building was required. 

Mr Jeffery went on to describe the design improvements that had been made to the original application. All these improvements had been made in consultation with council officers. However, even after these discussions, the process of improvement had continued with the Place Shaping Panel, which had produced a more sensitive design, with the taller elements of the design being reduced and the massing being reapportioned.  He asserted that this reduced the visual impact, whilst retaining the important aspects of the design.

Mr Jeffery assured the members that the company was committed to affordable housing and had offered considerably more affordable housing than the viability report, which indicated that no affordable housing was viable.  Mr Jeffery also identified that the scheme was more beneficial than the Prior Approval scheme approved as Permitted Development, which had 126 under-sized flats, none of which were affordable housing. 

Mr Jeffery went on to list some of the other positive statistics of the scheme, such as the proportion of social rental units, the CPZ payments, the car club and the CIL contribution and commended the application to the committee. 

The Chair thanked Mr Jeffery and invited Councillor Aga Dychton, a Ward Councillor for Central Ward to address the committee. 

Councillor Dychton explained that she was speaking on behalf of the residents of Central Ward who were firmly against the proposed development which included a 16 storey tower block.  She stated that the proposal would not be appropriate for the area and the significant massing and height would not be a notable addition to the skyline.

The councillor voiced her disagreement that the revised development avoided harm to the surrounding neighbourhood, with a consequential loss of light to nearby properties.  She pointed out that the council’s own policy sated that schemes should be of high quality and should respect and enhance the character of the area and again expressed her opinion that this development was not in accord with the policy goals. 

The proposal would also impact on nearby Grade 1 and Grade 2 listed buildings, with the total loss of the locally listed Exchange House.  The loss could only be justified if the replacement provided a significant architectural improvement. 

Councillor Dychton acknowledged the importance of new housing, then summed up her arguments and urged the committee to refuse the application. 

The Chair thanked Councillor Dychton and expressed his  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9