Agenda and minutes

Venue: David Hicks 1 - Civic Offices, Shute End, Wokingham RG40 1BN. View directions

Contact: Callum Wernham  Democratic & Electoral Services Specialist

Link: Watch the video of this meeting

Items
No. Item

90.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

An apology for absence was submitted from Bill Soane.

91.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 78 KB

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 April 2018.

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11 April 2018 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Members' Update pdf icon PDF 103 KB

There are a number of references to the Members' Update within these minutes. The Members' Update was circulated to all present prior to the meeting. It also contains details of properties to be visited prior to the next Planning Meeting. A copy is attached.

92.

Declaration of Interest

To receive any declaration of interest

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

93.

Applications to be Deferred and Withdrawn items

To consider any recommendations to defer applications from the schedule and to note any applications that may have been withdrawn.

Minutes:

No applications were recommended for deferral, or withdrawn.

94.

Application NO 173675 - Auto Trader House, Danehill, Earley (Hawkedon) pdf icon PDF 523 KB

Recommendation:  Conditional approval subject to legal agreement.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Holton stated that as he was a Ward Member for Hawkedon ward in which application No 173675 – Auto Trader House, Danehill, was situated, the Vice Chairman would chair the part of the meeting relating to this application. Councillor Holton indicated that he had an open mind with regards to the application and would remain during and participate in the discussion of the application and decision making.

 

The Committee received and reviewed a report about this application, set out in agenda pages 9 to 64.

 

The Committee were advised that the Members’ Update included:

 

·         Clarification that the travel plan need not be secured via the S106 agreement and that condition 6 be an appropriate mechanism to secure the travel plan;

·         A correction of the proposed unit mix;

·         A comparison of the predicted noise levels arising from the dismissed appeal proposal and the current proposal. 

 

Bill Luck, Earley Town Council, spoke in objection to the application. He discussed issues involving car parking at the proposed development. He stated that the Town Council felt that there was adequate car parking at the proposed development but were concerned at the increase in cost that underground parking would bring. He stated that the local bus service only provided an hourly service (with an additional bus at peak times), and he felt that the more frequent bus service was of a distance that most people would not walk to use it. He stated that the proposed double racked cycle storage would be difficult for residents to use. He added that the Town Council was pleased that a car parking management plan would be implemented at the proposed development. He requested that the security arrangements for parking be revised. He stated that the UV panels at the top of the tower blocks would be visible to the residents of the top floors of the surrounding tower blocks which would be unappealing for the residents affected.

 

Nick Green, Planning Consultant for the applicant, spoke in favour of the application. He stated that the proposed development site had been in a derelict state for some time and the existing office buildings had become redundant and had no prospect of use as offices in the future. He added that the development would help to address the general need for housing within the Borough. He stated that trees would be present around the development to add an additional level of privacy.

 

John Neale, Architect for the applicant, spoke in favour of the application. He stated that the proposed development would have 76 residential units with 58% of these being dual aspect, with none being north facing. He added that the proposed development would include 116 car parking space, 90 cycle spaces and 10 motorbike spaces. He stated that the height of the tallest tower block would be 9m in height, which was 2m lower than the existing office block. He added that all of the flats had been designed to meet local and national guidelines.

 

Clive Jones, Ward Member,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94.