Issue - meetings

Erection of a Secondary School arranged over three to five floor levels (gross floor area 10,930 sq metres), for approx. 1,100 students; formation of pedestrian access in wall facing Wood Green Common, and vehicular access from Western and Station Roads; provision of 39 car parking spaces, 80 cycle spaces, hard and soft landscaping, multi-use games areas, 1 roof-mounted wind turbine, new fencing to Station Road and Wood Green Common; installation of LED media screen to North elevation of South wing.

RECOMMENDATION: Grant permission subject to conditions; noting that the application will have to be referred formally to the Greater London Authority (GLA)

The planning officer addressed the Committee and stated that there were changes to some of the conditions outlined in the report as follows:

Condition 2.      The development approved plans should have included that   the dwellings would be in accordance with remedial sites.

Condition 12.    The level of noise emitted from the wind turbine should read as singular as there was only one.  The air handling units should be 10 decibels as detailed in the noise consultant’s report which they confirmed that could be achieved.

Condition 19.    The Green Travel Plans should be submitted three months after the school was occupied.

Condition 20.    The Highway works would be done at the entry of the site.  Traffic signal installation would be carried out  within three months of the date of this submission.

An extra condition. The advertising hoarding along the site should be removed before the occupation of the school building.

The Committee was informed that this site was located in the northern part of Haringey.  The site was bounded on the west side by the main east coast railway line.  The site was 2.5 hectares in size and had a mix of current uses which included; commercial use (storage, builders yard/scaffolding), a wooded scrub section and an access road along the west boundary of the site.  There was limited built structures on the site, with over 50% of the site consisting of hard surfacing.

The application was accompanied by an Environmental Impact Assessment which covered a wide range of areas.  The applicant had also carried out a consultation over a nine month period before submitting the planning application.  There was an identified need for a new secondary school in the centre of the Borough, to accommodation a growing school population; the proposal met the Heartlands Policy Framework.  The school would cater for 11 – 16 year olds.

The design concept was to provide a  main core building parallel to the railway, effectively three storeys high, containing a main assembly hall, sports hall, dining area, resource centre and circulation space (The Forum).  The two wings on the eastern side, separated by a landscaped courtyard were respectively four and five storeys high when viewed from Wood Green Common. 

The building would be flat roofed with green roofs.  The staircase towers would be clad in terracotta rendered panels, stock brick to both sides of the elevated wings and white render to the main core building.  The rear wall of the main building facing the railway would be an acoustic wall of concrete with insulation, but clad with trellis and climbing plants to form a Green Wall.  The embankment would be punctuated by new buildings and there would be the need to remove a number of trees however, this would be mitigated by the provision of new landscaped areas and by the planning of 176 new trees in different parts of the site.

The Committee was asked to grant permission subject to conditions; noting that the application would have to be referred formally to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 290