Agenda item

Before the start of the meeting, an email from Ms Rachel Ottey, a resident of Wood Vale Estate, was sent to members and tabled at the start of the meeting. The email raised further concerns regarding the state of water infrastructure in the area and what impact the proposed development would have on the existing infrastructure.

The Planning Officer outlined details of and answered Councillor queries regarding the proposal for the demolition of 22 garages and associated manoeuvring space at the Wood Vale Estate, Buckley Close, SE23 and the construction of a part 2, part 3, and part 4 storey residential block of 9 self-contained flats comprising 1 one bed flat, 1 two bed wheelchair accessible flat, 3 two bed duplexes, 3 two bed flats and 1 four bed duplex accessed by a new access road, together with the redevelopment of the land to the south of Buckley Close to provide 8 three bedroom family houses with associated landscaping, public realm improvements, cycle storage and highways works including the provision of 25 car parking spaces.

The Committee received verbal representation from Ms Anna Davies from David Miller Architects and acting as agents, on behalf of the application. Ms Davies presented the scheme and addressed Members questions regarding the development.

The Committee received verbal representation from Ms Rosemary Stops, a resident of the Wood Vale estate, in objection to the proposed development. Ms Stops raised issues relating to the impact on traffic, the loss of parking, the impact on water infrastructure, the timescale and impact of construction and the density of the development.

Following questions and deliberation by Members, Councillor Clarke moved a motion to accept the officer’s recommendation and grant planning permission subject to an additional condition relating to Thames Water infrastructure testing and a reworded condition for landscaping and hard landscaping of new accessway. It was seconded by Councillor Hilton.

Members voted as follows:

FOR:                Councillor Ogunbadewa (Vice-Chair), Clarke, Dacres, Hilton, Hooks, Klier and Slater.

RESOLVED:     That planning permission be granted in respect of application No. DC/14/89973, subject to conditions (1) to (11) and (13) to (20) as outlined in the report, as well as changes to the wording of Condition (12) to read as follows:

(12)  (a)    No development shall commence on site until a Landscaping Scheme has been submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority. The scheme shall demonstrate the following:-

(i)   Soft Landscaping details, including planting schedule, species list, number and location of plantings, size of trees and tree pits. Priority should be given to native plant species and plants of known value to wildlife as listed in the Preliminary Ecological Appraisal hereby approved;

(ii)  Hard landscaping details. These should include details of the road surface scheme and design measures to prevent informal parking;

(iii)  Any external lighting that is to be installed at the site, including measures to prevent light spillage;

(iv) Details of the proposed boundary treatments including any gates, walls or fences backing onto adjoining properties or shared amenity space;

(v)  Details of the number, type and location of the bird and bat boxes; and,

(vi) Details of invertebrate habitats such as ‘insect hotels’ and log piles.

(b)    All planting, seeding or turfing shall be carried out in the first planting and seeding seasons following the completion of the development, in accordance with the approved scheme under part (a). Any trees or plants which within a period of five years from the completion of the development die, are removed or become seriously damaged or diseased, shall be replaced in the next planting season with others of similar size and species.

(c)    The measures specified in the approved details shall be implemented prior to commencement of development and shall be adhered to during the period of construction.

Reason: In order that the local planning authority may be satisfied as to the details of the proposal and to comply with Policies 5.12 Flood risk management, 5.13 Sustainable Drainage and 7.19 Biodiversity and access to nature conservation in the London Plan (2015); Core Strategy Policies 12 Open space and environmental assets and 15 High quality design for Lewisham of the Core Strategy (June 2011); and DM Policy 25 Landscaping and trees and DM Policy 30 Urban design and local character of the Development Management Local Plan (November 2014).

In addition, a new Condition (21) to be added as follows:

(21)  No development shall commence until confirmation from Thames Water has been submitted to the Council to confirm an acceptable water flow and water pressure supply at the point of entry to the development.

Reason: To satisfy the Council that the existing water infrastructure is capable of supporting the expected demand from the proposed development and ensure that water supply to the existing residents in the area is not adversely affected.