Issue - meetings

Removal of spoil mound and erection of new school building comprising six classrooms, dining hall, kitchen facilities, associated office and group room, toilets and storage, and associated external works. Construction of infill reception class extension, associated external works and internal remodelling.

RECOMMENDATION: Grant permission subject to conditions.

The Committee considered a report, previously circulated, which set out the application for planning permission relating to Welbourne Primary School, Stainby Road, N15. The report set out details of the proposal, the site and surroundings, planning history, relevant planning policy, consultation and responses, analysis, equalities and human rights implications and recommended that the application be granted, subject to conditions. The Planning Officer gave a presentation setting out the key aspects of the report, and proposed an additional condition relating to local labour, and the Committee then examined the plans and drawings associated with the application.

In the absence of any objectors attending the meeting, the Chair exercised his discretion to allow the applicants to respond to questions from the Committee. The following points were raised in the course of questions from the Committee to the applicants and planning officers.

• The Committee asked about the impact the removal of the existing mound would have on air pollution levels, given the site’s proximity to Monument Way, as it was understood that such mounds played a role in mitigating pollution levels.
• The Committee also asked what measures were proposed to mitigate against pollution from particulate matter, given that the proposed new classrooms were closer to the main road than the existing classrooms.
• The applicants confirmed that the proposed design of the new building was to that the classrooms would face inwards toward the existing classrooms, with the rear of the building shielding them from the road. A 3m high boundary fence and planting were also proposed to offer protection from noise and pollution.
• In response to a question, the applicants confirmed that a desk-based air-quality survey had been submitted as part of the application, but that this was based on levels from the nearest monitoring stations, and not on site. The Committee requested that, were the application granted, a condition be added requiring an air quality survey to be undertaken on site, and a study undertaken by an expert in this field regarding the impact of the removal of the mound on levels of air pollution and the anticipated impact of the mitigation measures proposed in the application, prior to the commencement of works.
• In response to a question regarding the increase in the catchment area for the school following the expansion, it was confirmed that it was not anticipated that there would be a significant increase, as the increased number of school places was primarily to meet local demand within the existing catchment area.
• In response to a question from the Committee regarding the number of lorry-loads it would take to remove the spoil, and the route these vehicles would take, the applicant advised that their contractor estimated that it would take around 150-200 loads to remove the spoil, over a period of two to three weeks, and that the route would be directly onto the A10; access was being arranged with TfL to facilitate this.
• The Legal adviser drew the Committee’s attention to proposed condition 7, which addressed some of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 238