Issue - meetings

Variation of condition E4 attached to planning permission HGY/2005/1439 (creation of Haringey 6th Form Centre) to allow opening between 0600 - 2300hrs every day, including the sports centre and theatre and restaurant facilities.

RECOMMENDATION: Approve variation of condition E4 attached to Planning Permission HGY2005/1439 relating to extended operating hours.

In a brief introduction of the report the Committee were advised that planning permission had been granted for the sixth form centre in October 2005, (HGY2005/1439) as part of a wider scheme including new housing and a new care home.  The residential element was now completed and occupied called Academia Way. The application sought the extension of the opening hours of the sixth form centre from those allowed in the original planning permission.  Condition E4 attached to that permission allowed the centre to open between 0700 and 2200 hours Monday – Friday, 0800 and 1800 hours on Saturdays and not at all on Sundays and Bank Holidays. It was now proposed to open the centre from 0700 to 2300 on every day.  The intention of the proposal was to encourage increased community use and make the facilities more accessible to local people in line with the advice from central government and policies G3 and CW1 of the Unitary Development Plan 2006.  It was considered that, as any issues associated with the running of the sixth form centre were included as part of an ongoing programme of initiatives by the sixth form centre to ensure good relations with the local community, that the issues raised by local residents would be addressed and the facilities within the sixth form centre would be seen to provide a valuable resource for local people in line with policy UD3 of the Unitary Development Plan 2006. 

The Chair asked if there were any comments from the Committee.

The Committee sought clarification as to whether the granting could be conditional on a 2 year period, in order to assess take up, and whether a condition could be added in respect of the issue of crowd control and dispersal, and litter clearing and noise monitoring. In response to both points the Committee were advised that the Committee could limit the operation up to a two year period, and that in terms of the issue of crowd control and dispersal, and litter clearing and noise monitoring this could be added not as a condition but as an informative.

The Committee then heard from Somerset Hall residents objecting to the proposed variation in the following terms:

·        That the levels of noise and litter/mess arsing from the existing hours operation caused much distress to local residents, and increases in service charges in order to clear litter/mess caused by students;

·        That there had been damage to resident vehicles and property;

·        Evidence of smoking illegal substances in the vicinity close to residents homes, as well as drug dealing;

·        That the effects of the existing facility on local residents had reached an unacceptable level;

·        That the concerns expressed to the College had not been taken seriously and no effective measures had been put in place by the College to combat the levels of noise, disturbance and damage to vehicles and homes;

·        The need to have adequate fencing with the cost being shared between the residents and the college;

·        The need for students to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 185