Issue - meetings

Demolition of existing building and erection of retail food store, (Use Class E(a)), with associated access, parking and amenities.

Reccomendation: That subject to the recommendation of no objection / approval from the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) and the completion of a Section 106 Agreement in respect of a monitoring and evaluation fee covering a 5 year period relating to the travel plan, that permission be delegated to the Head of Regulatory Services to GRANT PLANNING PERMISSION subject to conditions and any additional conditions as requested by the LLFA.

The application was for the erection of a retail food store (Class E(a)) with associated access, parking and amenities following the demolition of the existing building.  The application had been called in by three members of the Committee due to concern over the impact that the development might have on traffic and highway safety.

The Committee was informed of the following updates.  4 further comments had been received since the publication of the report, 3 comments had been submitted by previous objectors, the fourth was an additional objection. Comments received were covered within the report with the exception of concerns over:

·       Increased parking on the slip road

·       Questions the accuracy of the average speed review in the amended transport report. (75m to the south of the access junction

The proposed building would be set 750mm lower into the ground than the existing building and therefore the eaves would only be approximately 0.4m higher than the existing building, the report currently says 1.2m higher. In terms of the ridge height, the new building would be 1.2m lower, not 0.4m lower as stated in the report.

A contribution of £16.800 pounds had also been agreed by the applicant to assist in the delivery of the A411 Hempstead Road and Grand Union Canal Corridor Cycleway Improvements, as identified within the adopted SW Herts Growth and Transport Plan and to be consistent with the emerging Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for TRDC. The amount was calculated using HCC toolkit £422 per job x 40).

As a result of the additional contribution, the officer recommendation had been amended to:

That subject to the recommendation of no objection / approval from the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) and the completion of a Section 106 Agreement in respect of a monitoring and evaluation fee of £6k covering a 5 year period relating to the travel plan and a contribution of £16.8k highway/cycleway/sustainable transport improvements, that permission be delegated to the Head of Regulatory Services to GRANT PLANNING PERMISSION subject to conditions and any additional conditions as requested by the LLFA.

Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) also provided an update.

The Applicant spoke in support of the proposals.  Representatives of Abbots Langley Parish Council and District Councillors spoke against the application citing concerns about the weight of traffic that the site would generate in an area that was in close proximity to the M25, heavily used A Roads and a busy roundabout and the implications for the safety of the junction even once improvements were made.  It was also felt that insufficient consideration had been given to the ability of pedestrians and cyclists to access the site safely, the impacts that the increased car park foot print would have on the adjacent River Gade and the safety of the proposed toucan crossing across a four lane road in close proximity to a major roundabout.

The Committee was informed that the proposed development had been reviewed by Hertfordshire County Council in its capacity of the Highways Authority with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18