The report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing is enclosed.

The application relates to the erection of a Part 16/ Part 11 storey building to form 106 no. apartments (C3 Use Class) together with ground floor commercial uses (Use Class A1, A2 A3 and/or B1), with associated ancillary space, surface car parking, landscaping and associated works.

The proposals would be in the form of a stepped development with the 16 storey element being sited at the junction of Great Ancoats Street/ Old Mill Street and the 11 storey element being sited on the northern corner of the site facing towards Old Mill Street and the recently completed Phase 3 building which rises to 10 storeys closest to the application site.

Residents would access the building on foot via the main foyer located on the Old Mill Street frontage or via a level access ramp from the car parking area, a separate access for the ground floor commercial unit is also provided from Old Mill Street. A bike store providing 106 spaces would be sited on the ground floor accessed directly from an entrance on Old Mill Street.

Surface car parking for 19 cars including 4 disabled access spaces, together with 9 electric vehicle charging points which would be sited to the rear and side of the building adjacent to the Islington Wharf Phase 1 building accessed via a secure gate from the existing access road leading from Old Mill Street. This unadopted access road also provides access to the car parking associated with the Phase 1 development together with access to the Phase 3 development. Waste collections takes place from this road which would remain unaltered as part of these application proposals.

The ground floor also provides a bin store for the apartments accessed internally via the foyer and a commercial bin store located to the rear of the building.

The applicant’s agent attended the meeting and addressed the Committee.

The Chair invited the Committee to comment and ask questions.

Members raised concerns regarding the non-inclusion of affordable housing as part of the development

The planning officer reported that there was no requirement for affordable housing as part of the proposal for the reason that the proposal is exempt under the Council policy. It was reported that there is an overage agreement in place where the Council may receive a sum from profits made from the development that could be used on affordable housing. 

A member referred to the arrangements for water drainage and flood management of the site and whether the proposed condition was sufficient to address this.

It was reported that Flood Risk Management Team had been consulted and were satisfied that the proposed scheme would deal with water run-off from the site.

A member made reference to public realm provision on the site and that the trees would be sited within large planters and making the point that the life span of trees planted in this way was much shorter than trees planted in the ground. Officers were asked if it was possible to add a further condition to ensure trees are planted in the ground where possible and to avoid underground services.

The Planning Officer suggested that an additional condition be added to request officers to explore the possibility of planting trees in the ground where appropriate to avoid underground services and to delegate planting approval to the Director of Planning in consultation with Chair of the Planning and Highways Committee.

A councillor proposed the approval of the application and the Committee gave this their support.

Decision

To approve the application, subject to the conditions and reasons set out in the report submitted and the Late Representations submitted and subject to the addition of a further condition for the determination of the location for tree planting to be delegated to the Director of Planning in consultation with the Chair of the Planning and Highways Committee.