Issue - meetings

Change of use from (A3) to D1 (Pharmacy) and external alterations to create new entrance.

RECOMMENDATION: Grant permission, subject to conditions.

The Committee considered a report, previously circulated, which set out details of the application, the site and surroundings, planning history, relevant planning policy, consultation responses, assessment of the application and recommendations. The Planning Officer presented the report, and noted that Members of the Committee had been provided with a hard copy of the consultation responses in full for their information, as well as additional correspondence tabled at the meeting from Circle 33, from Planning Aid for London and from Andrea Holden. In response to the correspondence from Circle 33, the officer confirmed that, as owners of the property, they would have been notified regarding the application; with regards to the issue of whether the proposed pharmacy was ancillary to the health centre as raised in the letter from Planning Aid for London, it was confirmed that the Council’s position was that the site consisted of a single planning unit, with the café and the proposed pharmacy ancillary to the D1 health centre use. In response to the concern raised in the letter form Andrea Holden regarding whether the Bridge Renewal Trust were acting in the spirit of its funding body the Seven Sisters Bridge NDC, it was not felt that this was a material consideration in the determination of the application by the Committee.

In response to a question from the Committee, the Planning Officer confirmed that the issue of whether the site formed a single planning unit was a matter of fact and degree, and that the Committee had to consider the application on its merits. The Committee noted that, while the premises was located just outside the Seven Sisters Bridge NDC Area of Change as stated in the report, the premises had been built with contributions from NDC, and asked whether this meant that policy AC4 should be applicable. It was confirmed by the Planning Officer and Legal Officer that policy AC4 was not applicable to the site, as it was located outside the defined area indicated on the proposals map. Officers advised that the use of NDC funding for the construction of the health centre was not an issue relevant to the Committee’s decision regarding this application, and advised members that any attempt to apply policy AC4 to a premises outside the defined area would be open to legal challenge. In response to questions from the Committee regarding the impact on the Conservation Area and traffic, it was felt the minor changes proposed to the entranceway of the premises would not impact the Conservation Area, and that potential traffic impact had been assessed in relation to the proposal and it was felt that traffic for the pharmacy would be broadly the same as existing traffic for the health centre.

Cllr Brabazon, Ward Councillor for St Ann’s, addressed the Committee in objection of the application on behalf of all three Ward Councillors. Cllr Brabazon told the Committee that the application represented a material change of use and should be treated as such. It was reported that the proposed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 175