Agenda item

OUT/15/01129: Riverside Park, Riverwood Road, Bromborough, CH62 3QT - Outline application (access only) for a residential development of up to 75 apartments with landscaping, parking and associated works

Minutes:

The Assistant Chief Executive submitted the above application for consideration.

 

A Ward Councillor addressed the Committee.

 

On a motion by Councillor Walsh and seconded by Councillor Mitchell it was:

 

Resolved (12:0): (with one abstention) That the application be refused on the following grounds:

 

1. The proposal would result in residential development on a site within the Wirral International Business Park, a designated Primarily Industrial Area which has been identified as an employment area of strategic importance.  Therefore, the development would conflict with the provisions of Policy EM8 in the Wirral Unitary Development Plan which makes provision for employment uses in Use Class B1, B2 or B8 and reconstruction, extension or expansion of existing businesses, and is also contrary to the National Planning Policy Framework (1. Building and strong and competitive environment in particular) and Policy CS17 ‘Protection of Employment Land’ and Policy CS42: Development Management in the Proposed Submission Draft Core Strategy for Wirral because the submitted evidence does not demonstrate that there is no reasonable prospect of the site being used for these purposes.

 

2. The proposal would be detrimental to the purpose and character of the area and could set an undesirable precedent that could undermine future sustainable economic growth and employment opportunities if replicated elsewhere within the Primarily Industrial Area. This is contrary to the intentions of Policy EM8: Development within Primarily Industrial Areas and Policy EM6: General Criteria for New Employment Development; the National Planning Policy Framework (1. Building and strong and competitive environment in particular); Policy CS17 ‘Protection of Employment Land’ and Policy CS42: Development Management in the Proposed Submission Draft Core Strategy for Wirral.

 

3. The proposal would undermine the prospects of comprehensive and sustainable employment development on the adjoining land within the Primarily Industrial Area. . This is contrary to the intentions of Policy URN1: Development & Urban Regeneration; Policy EM8: Development within Primarily Industrial Areas and Policy EM6: General Criteria for New Employment Development in the Wirral Unitary Development Plan; the National Planning Policy Framework (1. Building and strong and competitive environment in particular); as well as Policy CS2: Broad Spatial Strategy and Policy CS7: Priorities for Bebington, Bromborough & Eastham and Policy CS17 ‘Protection of Employment Land’  in the Proposed Submission Draft Core Strategy for Wirral.

 

 

4. Notwithstanding that matters of appearance, landscaping, layout and scale are reserved, the residential development within the scope of the indicative plans would result in an unacceptable form development that would appear over developed with a lack of amenity space and inadequate outlook that would be detrimental to the character of the area and the amenities which the future occupiers could reasonably expect to enjoy. The development would therefore be contrary to the intentions Policy HS4 - Criteria for New Housing Development in the Wirral Unitary Development Plan and Supplementary Planning Document SPD 2 - Designing For Self Contained Flat Development and Conversions, the National Planning Policy Framework (7. Requiring Good Design in particular) and Policy CS42: Development Management in the Proposed Submission Draft Core Strategy for Wirral.

 

5. The site is within a Health & Safety Executive (HSE) consultation zone for development near notifiable hazards at a vacant property in Power Road subject to a hazardous substances consent that has not been revoked and could put the safety of future occupiers and visitors at unacceptable risk if re-used.  This is contrary to the advice of the Health & Safety Executive and to Policy PO9: Criteria for Development Near Notifiable Hazards and Policy CS42: Development Management in the Proposed Submission Draft Core Strategy for Wirral.

 

6. Insufficient information has been submitted to ascertain the effect of the development on the Old Hall Road Woods and Eastham Woods Sites of Biological Importance and on any species protected by law. Consequently, the Local Planning Authority is unable to determine whether or not significant harm to local wildlife and habitat would occur and if so how this would be mitigated contrary to the intentions of Policy EM7: Environmental Criteria for New Employment Development,  Policy NC5: The Protection of Sites of Local Importance for Nature Conservation; Policy NC7: Species Protection in the Wirral Unitary Development Plan, the National Planning Policy Framework (paragraph 118 in particular) and Policy CS33: Biodiversity and Geodiversity in the Proposed Submission Draft Core Strategy for Wirral.

 

Supporting documents: