Outline Planning and Development Site - Case Study Example

Outline Planning Application Introduction The Site Chesterfield Waterside is a large and is most of the time vacant site likely used for development purposes. The site is roughly sixteen hectares. The site is found on the edge of Chesterfield Town Centre lying adjacent to the railway station. The development site covers a stretch from north to south on both sides of the River Rother/Chesterfield Canal and alongside the A61. Acquisition of this site presented Chesterfield with a huge opportunity to carry out a mixed-use regeneration of national profile and importance. By doing this, the company will be able to come up with a thriving and successful new part of the town centre. Chesterfield Waterside is part of the A61 Corridor Regeneration. It was granted a highly commended status in 2011 as well as Renewal awards due to its approach to Strategic Planning, and is the forty seventh largest regeneration projects in the United Kingdom. The Location Chesterfield is a historic market town situated in Derbyshire, Central England. It is found just bordering the World famous Peak District National Park. This National Park can receive well over 20 million visitors every year. The town is endowed with easy access to the motorway networks being only a few minutes from Junction 29 of the MY motorway. It is also on the mainline rail network with London St Pancras approximately 2 hours away. The town has a population of around 100,000 with a large surrounding catchment. It is only 12 miles south of Sheffield and 25 miles north of Nottingham and Derby. Figure 1: Site Map Site Proposal The proposal for the site includes the following: There would be establishment of about 1500 dwellings; Creation of 30,000 square metres of office, business and industrial space; Shops, restaurants and leisure uses around a new canal basin on the former Trebor/Bassett factory site; Construction of a new portion of canal; Protection and enhancement of the environment of the River Rother and Chesterfield. The proposal also include permission on a deal that allow the company, to provide transport services during the development process, and to improve transport and enhance benefits to the community, like affordable housing, public open space and public art. The development site is a significant, mixed-use regeneration scheme that has been proposed for a sixteen hectare canal-side site next to the A61, close to Chesterfield Town Centre and Railway Station. The council in 2005 published a Planning Brief, which comprised of the area as a part of it, which also included land on the Dema Glass and Pearson’s Pottery sites to the north. These other sites are being developed separately. This plan of development should make available a Public-Private Partnership, Chesterfield Waterside Ltd, which consisted of Chesterfield Borough Council and developers Urbo. This partnership was set up in 2006 with the mandate to deliver this complex project. The company provided development brief for the Waterside site which was published in 2006 and followed up with a special public exhibition of the proposals at Chesterfield’s Pavements Shopping Centre in March 2008 before planning permission was sought.  There was land which was not being adequately utilized around the canal and river. At the moment, it is impossible to navigate through the canal. Most of the footpaths around the site have for a long time been of poor quality and in minimal use. The plan is meant to deliver the site to the council in a better condition. It would be achieved by minimizing the risk of floods which has for long been a perennial problem in the area. The plan achievement also requires for the company deliver a new arm to the canal and to ensure the entire waterway is in a good condition for navigation all through the site up to the new canal basin. There is the need to create a parking area with some waterfront. The renovated canal should be easily accessible to the members of the public with plenty of space to spend quality time. The topography of the site will be instrumental in making the area ideal for exploration and relaxation purposes. Nearly thirty per cent of the entire development space will be left as open space, which will complement the site around the canal. This open space will provide a perfect place to relax and up to date playing areas for children. The realm across the site, on completion, will be under the management of the Chesterfield Waterside Management Company as a private estate. Figure 2: Chesterfield Waterside Master Plan Calculation of Appropriate Planning Application Fee All outline applications Sites up to 2.5 hectares = £9,527 Sites in excess of 2.5 hectares = £115 per 0.1 hectare = £115 * 135 = £15,525 New Dwellings New dwellings up to 50 = £19,049 Additional dwellings in excess of 50 = £115 for additional dwellings = £115 * 1150 = £132,250 Erection of Buildings Gross floor space to be created by the development up to 3,750 = £19,049 Gross floor space to be created in excess of 3,750 sq. m = £115 for each additional 75 sq. m in excess of 3,750 sq. m to a maximum of £250,000 = £115 * 350 = £40,250 Lawful Development Certificate – Existing Use LDC = £195 Total = £15,525 + £9,527 £19,045 + £132,250 £19,049 + £40,250 + £195 = £235,841 The following activities are exempted from charges, and thus Chesterfield waterside will not have to pay any charges if it were to conduct development on them: If one is altering or extending a living place for the good of a person registered as disabled. The development of a building so as to make it more or easily accessible to members of the public with disability in or around the building. This is applicable to buildings meant for public use only. Listed Building Consent If the permission obtained is for relevant demolition in an area meant for conservation purposes. If the work will be done on trees which falls under a Tree Preservation Order or in a Conservation Area The removal of Hedgerow. The proposal should be the first revision if an earlier development application had been made, bearing the same particulars and/or description. This must be on the same site by the same applicant in not more than 12 months of making the earlier application. The earlier application should have been withdrawn. otherwise the date of decision should have been if granted or refused, which must bear the signature of the granted or refused. However, the application should never be a duplicated application by the same individual in less than twenty eight days The development relates to the ones that make it necessary for one to acquire permission for planning in relation to an Article 4 Direction of the Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995. I.e. in the cases in which one require to possess the application due to a direction or planning condition removing permitted development rights. In the case of a lawful development certificate, for an application in current use, where an application for planning permission for the same development, such an application would not be required pay a planning fee under any other planning fee regulation For an application to be granted the permission to place an advertisement that follows an earlier application being withdrawn, before the issuance of notice of decision, or in the case where permission for consent to display an advertisement, and in the case where another party made the application on behalf of the same individual Furthermore, in the case where the application is to seek for consent to place an advertisement, such is derived from the provision under Regulation 7 of the 2007 Regulations, dis-applying deemed consent under Regulation 6 to the advertisement concerned Where the application is for another or different proposals for the same site by the particular individual, so as to derive gain from the already consented improvement right in Schedule 2 Part 3 Class E of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 If the placed order relates to a condition(s) on an application for Listed Building Consent or planning permission for the planned demolition in a Conservation Area Engagement in the following activities will present the Chesterfield Waterside Ltd with the opportunity to obtain reduction in the amount they would be required to pay: Where one is applying for such a development in representation of a not for profit sports club, for developing a playing field, but with no building involved, the applicable fee is £385 Applying for consent on behalf of a parish or community council then the fee is fifty per cent If the application is an alternative proposal being submitted on the same site by the same applicant on the same day. The application should however be of a less cost compared to the cost of the project. In this case the application fee is fifty per cent If one if applying for a Lawful Development Certificate for a Proposed use or development, then the fee is fifty per cent The case where two applications are made for two different development processes, done within twenty four hours and both are referring to the same development site, payment must be made for the one that requires the most fees and half the total of the rest It is acceptable generally to pay the highest fee in the case where two applications, are within the same fee category. This is where residential houses are not involved Application consisting of the development or construction of dwelling places (categories 1-4), there is summing up of the fees in which case the maximum can be exceeded Where an application crosses one or more local or district planning authorities then the fee is a hundred and fifty per cent and goes to the authority that contains the larger part of the application site or a sum of the fees if it is less than a hundred and fifty per cent Design and Access Statement Chesterfield Waterside commissioned a group of experts called Royal Haskoning’s Highway and Transport Planning group in 2006 to advice and give technical analysis on the issue of transport. This was so as to facilitate the project’s planning application. Among the tasks they were commissioned for were producing a Transport Assessment, Travel Plan Framework, and preparing the traffic and access input into the Application’s Environmental Statement. Royal Haskoning was brought in to use its considerable experience of sustainable transport planning and travel infrastructure design. It was necessary to have a careful planning exercise so as to produce a good and transport solution which will go a long way to provide solution to the transport problems. This will make the site more accessible, and ease the traffic from the ongoing phased construction work as well as business and residential traffic (Barker D, 2010). The Transport Assessment, Travel Plan Framework and traffic and access section of the environmental statement are very closely linked and the team had the sole task of developing an innovative transport strategy for the entire site. This was based on the Department for Transport’s 2009 Good Practice Guidelines: Delivering travel plans and, due to the size of the development, is one of the most complex transport plans the team has ever worked on. As the site has not yet been constructed, a flexible approach was essential, so a range of transport scenarios were forecasted and planned. Establishing access to the area was the first challenge and involved negotiation with local highway authorities who highlighted concerns on the primary road nearest to the development, the A61, being close to capacity during peak periods. Detailed analysis was needed to gain a clear idea of how access to the area would be managed. It was vital to strike the right balance between sustainability and reducing the need for immediate off-site highway infrastructure costs, as well as introducing measures to accurately predict future scenarios to reduce the need for highway improvements in the future. It was decided that three separate junctions on the A61 dual carriageway would be used to access the site. High, median and low traffic prediction scenarios were integrated within the strategy and checks were built in to keep traffic volume towards the low end of the scale. This was a sustainable solution as the financial implications for the client were reduced, as was the need to deal with transport issues in the future. There were additional features that were put in place to ease the traffic onto the site were included within the strategy. These included a car club, which would offer financial incentives for car-sharing, and a car rental scheme which would be available within the site. Royal Haskoning used expert techniques to model a range of scenarios forecasting differing transport methods required by business, leisure and residential site users. Their analysis was used to find ways to generate revenue by using the site’s travel plan measures to guarantee funds for dealing with future issues. Accurately predicting likely transport outcomes and how they could be managed sustainably meant that building large car parks at the outset could be avoided. Appendices Appendix 1: Scaled Site Location Plan Appendix 2: Chesterfield waterside Site – Aerial View Appendix 3: Proposed Development at Canal Basin References UK GOVERNMENT, (2010). The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010, June 4, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/490/contents/made NEWS & EVENTS, (2014). First Stage Plans for Chesterfield Waterside, June 4, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.chesterfield.co.uk/news-events/latest-news/FIRST-STAGE-PLANS-FOR-CHESTERFIELD-WATERSIDE CHESTERFIELD BOROUGH COUNCIL, (2013). Planning Documents, June 4, 2014. Retrieved from: http://planning.chesterfield.gov.uk/Planning/lg/GFPlanningDocuments.page CHESTERFIELD WATERSIDE, (2014), Design Principles, June 4, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.chesterfieldwaterside.com/design_1.html ENVIRONMENT & PLANNING, (2014). Design and Access Statements, June 4, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.ne-derbyshire.gov.uk/environment-planning/planning/development-control/design-and-access-statements/ Read More