Agenda item

Scott Volker, Principal Planning Officer provided the following update.

                 The landscape officer provided comments, and raised no objections, subject to a condition regarding submission of a tree protection scheme, and the environmental health officer also commented, raising no objection, and recommended approval subject to conditions, regarding unexpected contamination and a method statement for dealing with asbestos contamination.

                 The Committee raised concerns regarding the adequacy of Condition 9 (C9) in reflecting all the recommendations and concerns raised by the environmental health officer.

                 The case officer explained that C9 was an officer recommendation prior to the comments being received from an environmental health officer and the comments were received after the report had been published for the last Planning Committee meeting. Subsequent to that, the environmental health officer provided their comments, therefore, that method statement condition would be added to cover all the comments provided by the environmental health officer.

                 Members also pointed out that there should be another condition for a void maintenance plan to reduce flooding.

                 The case officer confirmed that that condition was made by the Environment Agency and if it had been missed of the report, officers will make sure it will be included.

                 The officers also confirmed that both conditions will be circulated to Members.

                 In response to a question raised regarding health and safety measures in the Aquadrome, the officer advised that due to asbestos being present in the Aquadrome, there is a strict requirement for all work being done within the Aquadrome to be safe for everyone who is going to be undertaking works there. Therefore, it is considered necessary from the recommendation of the environmental health officer to attach that condition to ensure that safe practices are in place.

                 They would also need to get consent from the Council, as the Council is responsible for maintaining the Aquadrome, and ensuring that any permit to work and safe measures are in place for those working in and around the site.

                 Councillor Chris Lloyd moved, seconded by Councillor Debbie Morris, that Planning permission be granted with the additional conditions requiring submission of Void Maintenance Statement and Method Statement.

On being put to the Committee the motion was declared CARRIED by the Chair, the voting being 8 For, 0 Against and 1 Abstention.

RESOLVED:

                 That Planning permission be granted subject to conditions with additional conditions requiring submission of Void Maintenance Statement and Method Statement.

                 Condition 10:

The development hereby permitted must not be commenced until such a time as a detailed scheme to ensure the clearing and maintenance of the under-slab void has been submitted to, and approved in writing by, the Local Planning Authority, in line with that outlined in the submitted 'Outline Void Clearing Method Statement'.

The scheme shall be fully implemented and subsequently maintained, in accordance with the scheme's timing/phasing arrangements.

Reason: To ensure the maintenance and upkeep of the void is in place for the lifetime of the development to mitigate for the risk of blockages of voids and reduce the risk of flooding to the development and surrounding area in accordance with Policy CP1 of the Core Strategy (adopted October 2011) and Policies DM8 and DM9 of the Development Management Policies LDD (adopted July 2013).

Condition 11:

No development or other operation in respect of the development hereby permitted shall commence on site whatsoever until a method statement for dealing with asbestos contamination shall be submitted to and agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The method statement should include but not be limited to the measures recommended in the letter from Vintec dated 25th May 2025 (listed below):

·        a statement confirming that conditions on site have not changed since the investigation by Vintec in 2015 was undertaken

·        prior to the construction phase - hand picking exercise of visible surface contamination;

·        prior to the commencement of piling operation - clearance of asbestos cement debris in areas where piles will be driven into the ground, achieved by scraping the top layer of soils and removing it as contaminated waste, this should be done using an excavator;

·        perimeter air monitoring and personal monitoring;

·        sporadic air monitoring conducted on the site boundary during construction.

The statement should also include measures to control fugitive dusts. It is suggested that driven piles will be employed, if this changes, the statement should also include arrangements for dealing with the soil arisings, fugitive dusts etc.

The development shall be fully implemented in accordance with the approved method statement throughout.

Reason: To ensure that the proposed development will not cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health, in accordance with Policy CP1 of the Core Strategy (adopted October 2011) and Policy DM9 of the Development Management Policies LDD (adopted July 2013).