Agenda item

Planning Reference – 200042

 

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Link.

 

Planning Officer:  Matthew Easton

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Strategic Place Planning, which recommended:-

 

That the application for detailed planning permission for the residential development of 245 private rented sector flats (up to nine storeys and two basement levels) with amenity space, 254 car parking spaces, two publicly accessible car club vehicles (including electric charging points), residents' gym, residents' function room, public bistro and public promenade with viewpoints to quarry, at Rubislaw Quarry, be approved conditionally and withhold consent until a legal agreement is secured to deliver developer obligations towards affordable housing, secondary education, core paths, open space and healthcare.

 

Conditions

(1)             SURFACE WATER DRAINAGE

 

No development shall take place unless a detailed scheme for surface water drainage and connection to the sewer, in accordance with the Drainage & Flooding Assessment (Issue 07 – January 2020) has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority in consultation with SEPA and Scottish Water. Thereafter development shall be implemented in

accordance with the agreed scheme.

 

Reason – to prevent any flooding and ensure adequate protection of the water environment from surface water run-off.

 

(2)             QUARRY WATER LEVEL MANAGEMENT PLAN

 

No development shall take place unless a scheme for the management of the water level within the quarry has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority in consultation with SEPA and Scottish Water. Thereafter the management plan shall be implemented in accordance with the agreed details.

 

Reason – to ensure that the proposed development is not at risk of flooding from rising water

levels in the quarry.

 

(3)             FOUL WATER DRAINAGE

 

No development shall take place unless confirmation has been received that Scottish Water will accept a connection to their sewer network from the development. Thereafter development shall be implemented in accordance with the agreed foul drainage scheme.

 

Reason – to ensure adequate protection of the water environment from foul water generated by

the development.

 

(4)             AIR QUALITY ASSESSMENT

 

No development shall take place unless an air quality assessment which considers the impact on existing residents as well as the potential exposure levels of occupants of the new properties on Hill of Rubislaw has been undertaken. Measures to reduce any potential air quality impacts should be considered. The approved mitigation measures shall thereafter be implemented in accordance with a timetable agreed with the planning authority.

 

Reason - to mitigate the impact of road traffic associated with the development on local air quality.

 

(5)             NOISE MITIGATION SCHEME FOR NEW RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES

 

No development shall take place unless a scheme of measures for the protection of the proposed residential properties has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority. This assessment should:

a)     Be in accordance with Planning Advice Note (PAN) 1/2011 Planning and Noise and its

accompanying Technical Advice Note.

b)     Identify the existing sources of noise potentially impacting on the proposed development.

c)     Identify the likely sources of noise associated with the proposed development.

d)     Detail the noise mitigation measures to reduce noise from the existing noise sources to an acceptable level to reasonably protect the amenity of the occupants of the proposed neighbouring residences.

e)     Be in line with a methodology to be submitted to and agreed in writing with the Council’s Environmental Health Service in advance of the assessment

Thereafter no flat shall be occupied unless the mitigation measures relevant to that property have been implemented in accordance with the agreed scheme.

 

Reason – to ensure that residents of the development are adequately protected from excessive

noise levels.

 

(6)             DETAILED LANDSCAPING SCHEME

 

No development shall take place unless a detailed scheme of hard and soft landscaping works has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority. The scheme shall be in accordance with the principles outlined in the Landscape Design Framework produced by Optimised Environments (ref: 171159_OPEN_HillRubi_LDF-01 – January 2020) and include –

(i)               Existing landscape features and vegetation to be retained.

(ii)             The location of new trees, shrubs, hedges and grassed areas and water features

(iii)            A schedule of planting to comprise species, plant sizes and proposed numbers and density;

(iv)           The location, design and materials of all hard landscaping works including surfacing, walls, fences, gates and street furniture (including the public walkway) and

(v)             a programme for the long-term management and maintenance of the hard and soft landscaping.

 

All soft landscaping proposals shall be carried out in accordance with the approved scheme and shall be completed during the planting season immediately following the commencement of the development or such other date as may be agreed in writing with the Planning Authority.

 

Any planting which, within a period of 5 years from the completion of the development, in the opinion of the Planning Authority is dying, being severely damaged or becoming seriously diseased, shall be replaced by plants of similar size and species to those originally required to be planted.

 

Reason – To ensure the implementation of a satisfactory scheme of landscaping which will help to integrate the proposed development into the local landscape in the interests of the visual amenity of the area and to ensure that the landscaping is managed and maintained in perpetuity.

 

(7)             PROVISION OF PARKING

 

No development shall take place unless a scheme for the phased provision of the vehicle, motorcycle and bicycle parking has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority. The phasing scheme shall –

(i)           ensure that a level of vehicle, motorcycle and bicycle parking appropriate to the number of units is available on occupation of each part of the building.

(ii)         demonstrate when and where the bistro spaces, electric vehicle charging points and car club spaces would be provided.

 

Thereafter no unit within the building shall be occupied unless the parking associated with that unit and identified as such in the phasing scheme has been constructed, drained, laid-out and demarcated in accordance with drawings IBI-XX-ZZ-PL-A-221-0099 (Rev.3) and IBI-XX-ZZ-PL-A-100-0103 (Rev.3) or such other drawing approved in writing by the planning authority.  Parking areas shall not thereafter be used for any other purpose other than the purpose of the parking of vehicles ancillary to the development and use thereby granted approval.  Parking spaces shall be communal and unallocated to any particular flat within the development.

 

Reason – to ensure public safety and the free flow of traffic.

 

(8)             CAR CLUB PARKING SPACES

 

No part of the building shall be brought into use unless (i) the car club only parking spaces have been constructed and/or marked out and are available for use and any associated signs or road markings have been implemented, and (ii) a traffic regulation order (TRO) is in place to restrict the use of the parking spaces to car club vehicles only.

 

Reason – To encourage modal shift away from the private car.

 

(9)             PROVISION OF PUBLIC AREAS AND WALKWAY

 

No development shall take place unless a scheme for the phased provision of the publicly accessible external parts of the development (including the quarry edge walkway and area noted as ‘aspirational paving outside ownership boundary line’ on the pavement adjacent to the site) has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority.  Thereafter each section of such areas shall be made available to the public on completion of the corresponding part of the building.  Such areas will thereafter remain in use as publicly accessible space for the life of the development.

 

Reason – to ensure the delivery of elements of the development proposed to enhance the accessibility of the quarry open space.

 

(10)         PROVISION OF FOOD & DRINK USE AND GYM

 

No development shall take place unless a scheme for the provision of the (i) food and drink unit; and (ii) gym parts of the development has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority.  Thereafter each element shall be provided in accordance with the approved scheme.

 

Reason – to ensure the delivery of the amenities proposed for the development.

 

(11)         EXTERNAL FINISHING MATERIALS

 

No development shall take place unless a scheme detailing all external finishing materials of the proposed building has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority.  Thereafter the development shall be finished in accordance with the approved scheme unless a

written variation has been approved by the planning authority.

 

Reason – to confirm the specific materials proposed and ensure a high-quality finish to the building.

 

(12)         EXTERNAL LIGHTING

 

No development shall take place unless a scheme of the external lighting for the building and its external areas has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority. Thereafter the development shall be implemented in accordance with the approved scheme.

 

Reason – to ensure public safety.

 

(13)         TREE PROTECTION SCHEME

 

No development shall take place unless a scheme for the protection of all trees to be retained on and outwith the site (including those trees within the route of the pedestrian path to Queen’s Road) during construction works has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority.  The tree protection scheme shall thereafter be implemented for the duration of the construction of the development unless otherwise agreed in writing with the planning authority.

 

Reason – to ensure adequate protection for the trees on site during the construction of the development.

 

(14)         BADGER PROTECTION PLAN

 

No development shall take place unless the species protection measures contained within the Environmental Survey (RQA-1803-EIS (rev.1) – 10 January 2018) have been fully implemented.

 

Reason – to ensure that badgers are protected from development.

 

(15)         CONSTRUCTION ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN

 

No development (including site stripping, service provision or establishment of site compounds) shall take place unless a site-specific construction environmental management plan (CEMP) has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority in consultation with SEPA.

The CEMP must include construction-phase and final SuDS supported by drawing(s) showing the location of the construction phase SuDS features; storage locations; pollution prevention and mitigation measures in place during construction e.g. spillage / chemical management and monitoring; emergency contacts to SEPA for pollution incidents and Invasive non-native species (INNS) management. The construction phase SUDS should be in compliance with the requirements of SEPA General Binding Rules 10 and 11 for the management of water run-off from a construction site to the water environment.  Thereafter development shall be undertaken in accordance with the approved CEMP.

 

Reason – to minimise the impacts of necessary demolition / construction works on the environment.

 

(16)         WASTE STORAGE

 

No development shall take place unless a scheme for the phased provision of the waste storage areas has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority.  Thereafter no unit within the building shall be occupied unless the waste storage area associated with that unit and identified as such in the phasing scheme has been constructed and is available for use in accordance with IBI-XX-ZZ-PL-A-221-0099 (Rev.3) and IBI-XX-ZZ-PL-A-100-0103 (Rev.3) or such other drawing approved in writing by the planning authority.  Waste storage areas shall not thereafter be used for any other purpose other than the purpose of the storing waste generated by the development.

 

Reason – to ensure adequate waste storage provision and for the protection of public health.

 

(17)         LOW AND ZERO CARBON BUILDINGS

 

The building hereby approved shall not be occupied unless a scheme detailing compliance with the Council's 'Low and Zero Carbon Buildings' supplementary guidance has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority, and any recommended measures specified within that scheme for the reduction of carbon emissions have been implemented in full.

 

Reason – to ensure the development complies with requirements for reductions in carbon emissions specified in the City Council's relevant published Supplementary Guidance document, 'Low and Zero Carbon Buildings'.

 

(18)         WATER EFFICENCY MEASURES

 

No flat or commercial element of the building shall be occupied unless the water efficiency measures identified in section 4.0 of the Sustainability Statement (Issue 03) produced by KJ Tait Engineers have been installed and are available for use.

 

Reason – to help avoid reductions in river water levels, which at times of low flow can have impacts on freshwater pearl mussel, one of the qualifying features of the River Dee Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

 

(19)         BUS STOP UPGRADE

 

No residential flat or the food and drink use shall be occupied unless the bus stop located on the south side of Queen’s Road (approximately 40m east of Angusfield Avenue) has been upgraded in accordance with a scheme submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority.

 

Reason – to encourage the use of public transport and reduce dependency on the private car for travel.

 

(20)         RESIDENTIAL TRAVEL PLAN

 

No flat shall be occupied unless a residential travel pack has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority. The residential travel pack shall identify details of different travel options available in the area to discourage the use of the private car. The approved travel pack shall be supplied to each household on occupation of a flat.

 

Reason – to reduce dependency on the private car for travel.

 

(21)         COOKING ODOUR CONTROL

 

The food and drink use shall not become operational unless a scheme of Local Extract Ventilation (LEV) for that use has been submitted to and approved in writing by the planning authority. The scheme must fully demonstrate the extent of the necessary ventilation equipment and the effectiveness of the associated cooking odour and fume control measures.

 

Reason – to ensure that residential properties are not adversely affected by cooking odours.

 

The Committee heard from Matthew Easton, Senior Planner, who spoke in furtherance of the application and answered various questions from members.

 

The Committee resolved:-

to refuse the application unanimously as it was felt that it did not represent sustainable development in terms of Scottish Planning Policy for the following reasons:

The proposal was considered contrary to the following Policies of the Aberdeen Local Development Plan 2017:-

• Policies D1, D3 and H1 in as far as it constitutes overdevelopment, was not designed for context and was of an incongruous design that does not have a vertical emphasis. Furthermore, it would have an adverse effect on the visual amenity by virtue of its dominant scale and overshadowing/overlooking of the area including adjoining houses and offices.
• It did not comply with Policy T2 as it fails to provide adequate parking provision and therefore was not in accordance with the adopted Supplementary Guidance on Transportation.
• It did not comply with Policy NE1 in as far as it would result in the loss of green space. 
• Finally, it did not comply with Policy I1 in terms of Education provision in that it would result in unacceptable strain on the capacity of local schools.

-         Councillor Marie Boulton, Convener