Agenda item

The Committee considered the above-mentioned reserved matters application pursuant to outline permission 20/P/02155 permitted on 30/03/2022, to consider appearance, means of access, landscaping, layout and scale in respect of the erection of a new GBC Depot, Multi Storey Car Park, MOT Test Centre and sprinkler tank compound with associated external areas of hard and soft landscaping, parking and storage. (EIA Development).

The Chairperson, Councillor White wished to point out, so to avoid any conflict of interests, and to comply with the 1992 Regulations, Guildford Borough Council had, firstly, a corporate team that had worked on the development of the proposed scheme and secondly, the local planning officers who had undertaken negotiations with the applicant, both pre and post submission of this application, assessed the proposed development prepared the Committee report and formed a recommendation on the application, similarly, no committee member taking the decision on this application had participated in the negotiation and agreement of the proposals.

The Committee received a presentation from the Senior Planning Officer, Jo Chambers.  The application was a reserved matters application in respect of the proposed new council depot at Weyside Urban Village.  The application site formed part of site allocation, A24 Slyfield Area Regeneration Project now referred to as Weyside Urban Village, located on the western side of the River Wey, approximately 2 kilometres north of Guildford town centre.  The site was bounded on the west by residential areas and to the north and north-west by the Slyfield Industrial Estate.  The River Wey ran along the eastern boundary.  Hybrid planning consent was granted for the development comprising 1,500 new homes and supporting community and employment uses in March 2022.

The existing Woking Road Depot was located in the southern part of the site adjacent to the existing Thames Water sewage treatment works. Both facilities were required to be relocated to facilitate redevelopment of the area.  The new depot site was located in the north eastern part of site.  The application site adjoined the new Thames Water sewage treatment works to the north and the future Surrey County Council waste transfer sated stations.  to the south, the site was bounded with an existing woodland belt, which extended to the north around the sewage treatment works, with an area of green space and the River Wey.  Beyond the access to the new depot a newly constructed road provided access to the industrial estate from the junction with Woking Road.  The transport assessment indicated that the proposed development may result in additional traffic on this junction, but the Highway Authority did not consider the potential impact to be severe and had recommended a number of conditions to be imposed in any permission granted, in order that the development should not prejudice highway safety nor cause inconvenience to other highway users and to promote sustainable forms of transport.

The principle of development had been established through the hybrid consent, and the application sought reserved matters approval only in respect of appearance means of access, landscaping, layout and scale. The design had been developed to meet operational requirements and would enable the rationalisation of council services on a single site.  It represented an efficient use of the site and the designers responded positively to site constraints and conditions. 

The development comprised a new depot building including ancillary offices and conference training facilities for the council and multi-storey car parks in the north of the site including storage.  An MOT test centre and sprinkler tank compound to the west and associated external areas of hard and soft landscaping parking and storage, which, by the nature of the development, were obviously quite extensive.  The multi-storey car park would provide a total of 361 spaces for council vehicles, staff and visitors as well as storage, space and public car parking to replace the existing on-street spaces which would be displaced by the proposed and controlled parking zone on Woodlands Road, Slyfield Green which will be implemented as part of the wider development the building is within.

The depot building was within the maximum height parameter of 16 metres, however, the highest car parking deck, the multi-storey car park was 15.3 metres.  The highest part, comprising the lift, extended to 17.3 metres and therefore exceeded the maximum height parameter by 1.3 metres.   Planning Officers had explored with the applicant potentially reducing the height, but this would breach building regulations and fire safety regulations.   As the height falls within the worst case parameters assessed in the original environmental statement, it was unlikely that there would be any new or different effects that would impact landscape, townscape and visual impact. 

The existing woodland belt along the eastern boundary of the site provided an important screen to the River Wey and adjoining open spaces.  Detailed design determined there would be a requirement for some limited loss of trees as a result of site levelling, however, the majority of the plantation woodland would be retained and the loss of a small proportion of this habitat did not affect the functionality of the woodland as a landscape feature nor its use by wildlife such as bats.

Concerns had also been raised by the local amenity groups about the impact of floodlights and at the top level of the multi-storey car park will permit car headlights to shine a look across the nature reserve into residential properties on Bowes Lane. The lighting strategy was acceptable in principle, but further details would be required to be submitted and approved, taking into account concerns regarding light spill and the need to minimise impacts of lighting, an appropriate condition was recommended. T

The design of the buildings reflects the industrial character of the area. The size of the buildings had been determined by operational requirements and officers, considered the size and massing to be acceptable within the framework of the hybrid planning consent.

Concerns had been raised by the Guildford Society about the visual impact of a relatively industrial development which borders countryside and is close to the River Wey.  Planning Officers had considered this and were of the view that further consideration could be given to the materiality and colour of the building, to minimise visual impacts and different cladding designs and colours should be assessed.  A condition was therefore proposed to require details of materials and sample cladding panels to be submitted and approved by the Local Planning Authority.  The Burpham Neighbourhood Forum had also raised concerns about the limiting scope of the landscape masterplan. However, it's noted there's limited opportunity for on street planting and landscaping because of the operational requirements of the Depot.  Provision had been made for grassland, landscaping around the entrance to the site and some limited native trees and shrub planting to enhance biodiversity value.  In addition areas of brown and blue roofs were proposed on the top of the buildings to enhance biodiversity value details of these will be subject to condition.  The application was also supported by detailed biodiversity mitigation enhancement plan.

The new depot would provide bespoke state of the art facilities for the departments, and services would be relocated there.  A major upgrade in the quality of the facilities for staff and delivery of services to the local community the new facilities would also provide benefits in terms of environmental performance.  The proposed energy strategy said the site would result in savings of 86% against the baseline building using gas stick fired boilers, representing a major improvement above Policy D2 requirements.

In conclusion, the development would facilitate the delivery of the Weyside Urban Village and associated public benefits.  It was considered that concerns raised regarding the visual impact of the development could be minimised by the imposition of conditions relating to materials, landscaping and biodiversity enhancement and any residual impacts would be outweighed by the significant benefits of the scheme.   The officer recommendation was to grant permission subject to the conditions set out in the report and the additional informative in the late papers.

The Committee considered the application and noted comments that they were pleased to see the proposed controlled traffic zone in Woodlands Road and a vastly improved sewage works.  Clarification was sought on what the brown and green roofs related to and who was going to oversee the health of the trees proposed to be planted as well as be responsible for their replacement. 

The Planning officer confirmed that the multi-storey car park had been oversized to allow for additional parking to meet the needs of the staff so to avoid parking on residential roads.  Brown and green roofs related to incorporating environmental enhancements within the building by creating additional planting for example.  With regard to the replacement planting, the Parks Department was moving to the site and so it would be Guildford Borough Council's responsibility to maintain the standard condition about replacement of trees if they died and an additional condition had been included in this regard.  With regards to the woodland belt, which was very similar to the condition on the Thames Water sewage treatment works which will enable them, a review of the planting after a five-year period was required to see whether any further enhancement was needed.  It was recognised that the buffer created a really important screen.  The whole point of the facility was the replacement of the existing facilities, including the existing Woking Road Depot and Nightingale Road with an element of space to allow for future expansion, so it could meet the needs of the council the next 5-10 years.  

A motion was moved and seconded to approve the application which was carried.

In conclusion having taken account of the representations received in relation to this application, the Committee

RESOLVED to approve application 22/P/01050 subject to the conditions and reasons as detailed in the report.