Long Ditton Ward: Alex King Expiry Date: 24/03/2010 Location:

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1 Application No: 2009/2315 Application Type: FULL Case Officer: Long Ditton Ward: Alex King Expiry Date: 24/03/2010 Location: Kingston House Portsmouth Road Thames Ditton Surrey Proposal: Variation of Condition 3 of Planning Permission 2007/0598 to change the internal layout to allow unrestricted number of self store units Applicant: Shurgard Properties UK Limited Hogg Architecture FAO Mr Ruairidh Hogg 7 Wentworth Close Agent: Long Ditton Surbiton Surrey KT6 5DY Decision Level: Recommendation: If Permit: Sub Committee If Refuse: Sub Committee Permit Representations: None. R e p o r t ***This application has been promoted from officer delegation to Sub-Committee by Councillor Kapadia if the officer recommendation is to permit*** Description 1. The application site is part of a large area of Strategic Employment Land on the southern side of Portsmouth Road that provides a mix of office, hotel, industrial and trade retail uses. Kingston House is the eastern one of the two former multi-storey office buildings that occupies the site frontage with the access from Portsmouth Road between. The other is Dairy Crest House. On the opposite side of Portsmouth Road is Thames Ditton Marina with the River Thames and Home Park to Hampton Court Palace beyond. Adjoining the site to the east is the Cooper/BMW car showroom with workshop and car parking to the rear abutting the rear gardens of residential properties on Prospect Road. Prospect Road marks the boundary with the Royal Borough of Kingston. Adjoining the site to the west is the Holiday Inn hotel which has recently been extended. 2. The site currently comprises a four-storey warehouse structure currently in the process of construction, which is to be occupied by Shurguard self-storage once completed. The steel work to support the main structure has been erected with some cladding/windows. 3. The main access to the site is from Portsmouth Road, which is to the north of the site and is shared with adjacent uses. History 4. The application site has been subject to a number of planning applications for various different developments. 5. The first relevant application 2007/0598 which was granted planning permission on 7 August 2007 for a four storey B8 class storage warehouse with basement, associated office facilities, car parking and landscaping following demolition of existing building. 12E

2 6. Following the grant of planning permission and initial construction of the development the site has been subject to enforcement action by the Local Authority following the developer s noncompliance with the approved drawings and the conditions attached to the permission 2007/0598. The two main discrepancies from the drawings related to the increased height and That enforcement notice was the subject of an appeal which was dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate. 7. Works on the building have been implemented and the building appears to be near completion from the exterior. Proposal 8. Planning Permission is sought for the variation of condition 3 of Planning Permission 2007/0598. This condition stated the following; 3) USE CLASS LIMITATION The premises shall be used for self-storage in 499 small units only and for no other purpose (including any other purpose in Class B8 of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, or in any provision equivalent to that Class in any Statutory Instrument revoking or re-enacting that Order with or without modification). No internal alterations to amalgamate or subdivide the units shall be carried out without the prior written approval of the Local Planning Authority. Reason; The use of the building for other purposes could have an adverse environmental impact on the surrounding area and would not comply with Policies ENV7 and ELE6 of the Replacement Elmbridge Borough Local Plan The applicant has sought to vary the condition to remove the stipulation for the number of units, the wording proposed for the condition is set out as below and the reason would remain unchanged: The premises shall be used for self-storage only and for no other purpose (including any other purpose in Class B8 of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, or in any provision equivalent to that Class in any Statutory Instrument revoking or re-enacting that Order with or without modification). Reason: The use of the building for other purposes could have an adverse environmental impact on the surrounding area and would not comply with saved policies ENV7 and ELE6 of the Replacement Elmbridge Borough Local Plan Consultations 10. The Environment Agency have raised no objections to the application. 11. London Borough of Kingston on Thames have raised no objections. 12. Thames Water have no observations to make as regards the proposal. 13. Surrey County Council have commented that having assessed the proposal they have raised no objections in respect of safety, capacity on policy grounds. Furthermore the condition to restrict the number of units was not recommended by the Highway Authority and a Movement Policy was not included in the reason for the condition. Furthermore the technical transport report submitted with the application is considered to demonstrate that the self-store units generate low levels of vehicle movements in the network at peak hours and throughout the day. The report demonstrates that the variation of the condition to allow an unrestricted number of units will have a negligible effect on traffic generation and parking demand. Planning Considerations 14. As the proposal is for the variation of condition it is considered appropriate to only consider the saved policy reasons for the original condition, the subject of this application. In this instance only saved ENV7 and ELE6 are considered to be appropriate. Saved Policy ENV7 deals with the principle of the impact of change of use on the surrounding area. As such proposals should 13E

3 demonstrate that they do not have an adverse impact upon the surrounding area. Saved Policy ELE6 deals with the principle of storage and distribution requiring that they are environmentally suitable and accessible to the primary road network. 15. Condition 3 of Planning Permission 2007/0598, outlined in the planning history, sought to restrict the use of the building for self storage only and not general storage and distribution, both of which fall within use class B8. In addition, the original condition specifies 499 small units only and restricts any internal alterations to amalgamate or subdivide the units of the selfstorage without the prior written approval of the Local Planning Authority. 16. The number of units of 499 within the development was derived from the original application for development, as set out within the transport statement supporting the application. As such, a condition was imposed to reflect this number. It is clear that the reason for the imposition of this condition was to ensure the movement and accessibility from the primary road network are protected. 17. In regards to saved policy ENV7 the grant of planning permission for a self-storage facility on this site has already been considered to be acceptable on the surrounding area. In this regard consideration must be given to the self storage nature of the development as opposed to an open storage and distribution use. The applicant is not requesting a relaxation of the restriction on the type of use of the premises, which is self storage only. Therefore, the only consideration is whether a restriction on the numbers of self storage units within the building is necessary. The principle reason for the number restriction, and indeed the self storage use, was that it was demonstrated that traffic generation would be less when compared to the previous office use. Comparisons were made at the time with another existing store in Ewell. 18. The Highway Authority has commented that the condition to restrict the number of units was not recommended by the Highway Authority and that a movement policy was not included in the reason for the condition. However, the Highway Authority has commented that the submitted traffic generation report demonstrates that the variation of the condition to allow an unrestricted number of self storage units will have a negligible effect on traffic generation and parking demand. The report states that the development should see less vehicle movements than the original B1 use of the building. Moreover, in conclusion the report also states that the internal configuration of the store has an insignificant impact upon traffic and provides suitable car parking provision. This factor and when considered with the industrial nature of the area would lead to a conclusion that removal of the restrictive number of units is acceptable. 19. Saved Policy ELE6 was considered in the previous decision. The proposed development would have a total floor space of 6946m². However, this application proposes storage only, and, subject to a condition restricting it to self storage only, the proposals would not conflict with policy ELE6. It is considered that self-storage would have far lesser parking / servicing requirement and traffic impact compared to unrestricted Class B8 storage and distribution uses. It would also be less than the previous B1 office use of the site. Matters raised in Representations 20. None raised. Conclusion 21. This application is for a satisfactory variation of Condition 3 of permission 2007/0598 that after careful consideration is not considered to result in undue detriment to the character of the area or the road network. It has been considered against saved policies ELE6 and ENV7 of the Elmbridge Borough Local Plan 2000 and other material considerations. It has been concluded that the development would not result in any significant harm that would justify refusal in the public interest. Sub-Committee Delegation: Yes 14E

4 Recommendation: Grant Permission Conditions/Reasons 3 USE CLASS LIMITATION The premises shall be used for self-storage only and for no other purpose (including any other purpose in Class B8 of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, or in any provision equivalent to that Class in any Statutory Instrument revoking or re-enacting that Order with or without modification). Reason: The use of the building for other purposes could have an adverse environmental impact on the surrounding area and would not comply with saved Policies ENV7 and ELE6 of the Replacement Elmbridge Borough Local Plan Informatives 1 REASONS FOR PERMISSION Summary of reasons for grant of permission: This application is for a satisfactory variation of Condition 3 of permission of Planning Permission 2007/0598 that after careful consideration would not be considered to result in undue detriment to the character of the area or the road network. It has been considered against saved policies ELE6 and ENV7 of the Elmbridge Borough Local Plan 2000 and other material considerations. It has been concluded that the development would not result in any significant harm that would justify refusal in the public interest. 15E

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