Address:       Land rear of 133 & 135 Station Road, Lower Stondon, Henlow, SG16 6JJ

Demolition of 133 & 135 Station Road, Lower Stondon and erection of 149 residential dwellings (including 3 custom built plots and 52 affordable housing units) with associated access, road, parking, LEAP and amenity space. Construction of surface water attenuation basin and associated pumping station and provision of 0.12ha of land for community facility.

Applicant:     DLA Town Planning Ltd

The Committee had before it a report regarding Planning Application No. CB/18/00181/FULL for the demolition of 133 & 135 Station Road, Lower Stondon and the erection of 149 residential dwellings (including 3 custom built plots and 52 affordable housing units) with associated access, road, parking, LEAP and amenity space.  Construction of surface water attenuation basin and associated pumping station and provision of 0.12ha of land for community facility on land rear of 133 & 135 Station Road, Lower Stondon, Henlow, SG16 6JJ.

In advance of consideration of the application the Committee’s attention was drawn to additional consultation/publicity responses, an update to the report, the deletion of conditions and amended conditions.  The Committee noted that a condition regarding vision splays had been duplicated and so additional condition 29 on the Late Sheet should be deleted and the remaining additional conditions renumbered.

In advance of consideration of the application the Committee received representations from Stondon Parish Councillor Nigel Benson, Tony McDonnelly, an objector, and Emily Bishop, the agent for the applicant.  All three parties responded to Members’ requests for clarification.

The planning officer responded to the points raised as follows:

·         The Parish Council comments on the application being outside the settlement envelope and the alleged prematurity of the allocation had been dealt with in the officer report and, in part, by the agent’s response.

·         It was not considered a significant development in that it would prejudice the Local Plan so there were no grounds to refuse on grounds of prematurity.

·         With any outside of settlement application, consideration had to be given as to whether any benefits outweighed the lack of policy compliance.  The officer report outlined the benefits that did so specifically with landscape and character.

·         The application would impact on the local infrastructure but contributions were sought for and including the doctor’s surgery and to education facilities to ensure they were upgraded.

·         The proposed access arrangement off Station Road and the highway network had been assessed and were considered fully acceptable.

·         A cohesive approach had been considered in terms of the emerging allocations on either side of the application site and a link road through the site joined up with the latter to ensure ‘future proofing’.

·         The community would gain footpath connectivity.

·         The proportion of the costs for the land for the community hall had been calculated by an agreed leisure methodology and was considered proportionate for the size of the scheme and the award of land.

·         The Parish Council had been included in the S106 discussions on community gain whilst the S106 obligations for education and healthcare were formula based.

·         The pollution officer was aware of the additional kennel blocks on the Greyhound Stadium site to the east and had undertaken discussions with the applicant.  The pollution officer had removed his objection subject to noise mitigation measures, including an attenuation bund, being implemented.  As a result the application was considered acceptable.

The highways officer responded to the points raised as follows:

·         The transport assessment was fairly robust.  The surrounding junctions, including the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 104