Appendix A Planning Report – April 2023

REPORT FROM THE PLANNING GROUP – April 2023                    APPENDIX A

• Granted Applications

• Refused/Withdrawn Applications

• Pending Applications

• New Applications

• NW/23/00168, 23-25 High Street – convert offices to 4 flats

Comments sent:

Bozeat Parish Council object to this application.  We have the following concerns:

• The loss of business premises
• Insufficient parking provision
• Potential odour issues
• Safety
• Amenity

Loss of Business Premises

Bozeat has very limited local employment opportunities and Arch Villas is one of the few remaining business premises within the village where a business could be established.  The application contains no evidence that the site has been marketed for business use.

Parking – (JCS Policy 8 b ii)

The Northamptonshire Parking Standards for class C3 dwellings with 2 bedrooms sets a requirement of “2 spaces per dwelling, plus visitor spaces at 1 per dwelling across the development”.  This equates to a requirement for 12 spaces for the scheme – more than double the 5 spaces proposed.

Bozeat has particularly high levels of car ownership because of the low level of local employment opportunities and poor public transport provision.  The High Street already suffers from such acute parking problems that parking disputes have resulted in criminal damage to vehicles.  The congested parking also resulted in frequent cases where refuse vehicles were unable to access Warners Hill.  The High Street clearly cannot accommodate any of the overflow parking that the scheme would generate.

We are further concerned that when vehicles enter the site and find no empty spaces they would have insufficient space to turn and so be forced to reverse out unsighted onto the High Street.

Odour – (JCS Policy 8 e i)

The Okra Indian cuisine takeaway is the only fast food purveyor within the village. This is situated at 21 High Street which is adjacent to the proposal site (see photographs).  The cooking odours generated by this business probably render at least part of the proposal site unsuitable for residential use.

Safety – (JCS Policy 8 b i)

Vehicles exiting the site would have inadequate visibility of oncoming vehicles or pedestrians on the High Street.  The 1.5m wall could be shortened to address this on one side of the site but to do so would be detrimental to the street scene in which this wall along with that of the neighbouring property currently forms an attractive feature (see right hand picture above).

There is further concern that the doors to the takeaway open directly onto the entranceway.  This means that not only is there regular pedestrian traffic across the entranceway, but when leaving the takeaway pedestrians could step directly onto the entranceway and into the path of a vehicle.

Amenity – (JCS Policy 8 e vi)

The new dwellings would have no amenity space.

The Parish Council recommends that this application should be refused.  We further request that it is visited by the site viewing group.

• NW/22/00321, Nene Milling redevelopment

A modified proposal has been submitted.  Issues/comments already identified for our response are:

• The affordable/shared ownership homes should be prioritised for families with a local connection
• The face of the apartment block towards the road should be more in keeping with the factory opposite, the new design is not
• The parking provision is below standard & if not improved permitted development rights should be removed for garages and additional accommodation since this would make things even worse
• We would seek changes to the village hall design to better reflect the predominantly social uses and to improve its environmental impact
• We would seek to arrange publicly available EV charging points on the village hall site
• The potential odour issues are a concern but we lack the expertise to comment upon them of particular concern is that the LEAP is within the highest odour zone

• WP/2008/0179, access to the new turning head at the top of Hope Street

No response to date, a chasing email has been sent.

• Proposed changes to planning committees and delegated powers at NNC

A draft response has been circulated for comment.