The Committee considered a
report, previously circulated, on the application for planning
permission at Forrester House, 52 Bounds Green Road, N11 2EU. The
report set out details of the site and surroundings, images,
planning history, relevant planning policy, consultation and
responses, analysis of the application, planning obligations, human
rights and equalities considerations and recommended that
permission be granted, subject to conditions and subject to a
section 106 legal agreement. The Planning Officer gave a
presentation highlighting the key aspects of the report. The
Committee examined the plans and drawings.
- The Committee asked
about how fire risk would be managed, particularly as, unlike
regular hotels, there would be provisions for cooking within each
unit; it was reported that this was dealt with under building
regulations.
- In response to a
question regarding whether it was possible to address waste control
issues by means of design; it was agreed that an additional
condition could be applied, requesting further details of the waste
storage arrangements.
- The Committee
asked about the proposed condition that
no unit is to be occupied by any individual for longer than 90
days, and how such a condition would be monitored and enforced. It
was reported that this condition was intended to prevent any future
change of use to convert the premises into an HMO, and was
enforceable in law. It was suggested that the condition could be
reworded to require the applicant to confirm to the Council in
writing on an annual basis that no individual had been permitted to
stay for longer than 90 days, so that, were such confirmation not
received by the authority, this would act as a trigger for
monitoring of compliance. It was further suggested that the
condition should give the local authority the right to inspect the
hotel register, on demand.
- It was confirmed that
this application was for a different use-class than an HMO –
were there any subsequent desite to convert to an HMO, this would
require further planning permission. It was reported that serviced
apartments were common in Europe, but less common in the
UK.
- The legal advisor
confirmed that each room was a separate planning unit in its own
right, making future conversion to an HMO complex.
A local resident address the
Committee in obejction to the application on the grounds that the
bulk and height of the proposal would lead to obstruction and
significant loss of light to his property, particularly in the
morning, from around 7-11am.
The applicant addressed the
Committee and raised the following issues:
- While the main
concern of the objector was loss of light, the daylight study
undertaken had shown a loss of no more than 1% light in any of the
rooms tested. This report had been submitted to planning officers
as part of the application.
- The target was for
lets of 2 – 3 weeks, as serviced apartments. It was felt that
this was a strong location for such a use, due to the transport
links.
- It was confirmed that
there would ...
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