John Comber

020 8921 6426

020 8921 5282

[email address]

Mr D Chamberlain

[email address]

16^th July 2010

Land adjacent to 1 & 2 Hambledown Road

I refer to your complaint in connection with the above and my holding response of 13th April 2010.

The Council has received the application to register the site as a Town or Village green.

With regard to the Members site visit, the date of a committee site visit is determined by the Council's Committee Services. The Council does not normally consult surrounding residents on their availability for a site visit because it is for Members to attend. Members of the Planning Board on occasions vote in favour of a site visit in order to allow those Members who feel they would benefit from such a visit, the opportunity to see the site. This can involve the Chair agreeing to try to view sites from the premises of objectors. However the site visit does not form part of the formal process for consideration and it is not mandatory for Planning Board Members to attend a site visit in advance of taking a decision of a planning application. Therefore only two Members of the Planning Board attended the site visit is not material to the consideration of the planning application. Subsequent to the Members site visit, the planning case officer attended the site for a third time on 11th March 2010 to take additional photos from various positions in and around No. 2 Arlington Close which were used in the officer's representation to the Committee.

I turn now to the complaints raised about the Committee presentation issues, some 29 photographs were shown as part of the officer's presentation which showed the site itself clearly, and the relationship with neighbouring land and buildings. In particular, photographs showing the exterior of the neighbouring house at no 2 Arlington Close were shown, and a series of photographs taken from that house and garden showing the relationship of the house and its boundary with the application site were also shown. Pictures were also shown that explained the relationship of the application site and proposed houses with the existing houses on Hambledown Road. The photographs were intended to give Committee Members as much information as possible to assist them with their decision making.

These pictures were complemented by images that showed the proposed layout of the site in relation to its surroundings. These were in the form of drawings of the buildings arranged on a site plan and in elevation together with computer generated images:

• One of the computer generated images was a view taken from Hambledown Road looking into the site and showing the proposed bungalows in the background with the existing houses of no 1 Hambledown Road (to the right) and no. 2 Hambledown Road (to the left) in the foreground.

• Another of the computer generated images was taken from a point within the site that looked backed towards no. 2 Hambledown Road (in the background) with the proposed northern block of bungalows "Block A" in the foreground.

• A third computer generated images showed the direct relationship between the rear of proposed bungalows and the existing house at no. 2 Arlington Close.

Therefore, the presentation did show the impact of the development upon both Arlington Close and Hambledown Road, which in itself was not considered by Members to be of a nature to warrant the refusal of planning permission.

The impact of the proposals on houses in Arlington Close and Hambledown Road was considered throughout the officer's report and specifically considered in paragraphs 7.4, 7.7, 9.17, 9.18 and 9.19 of the report, and by the imposition of planning condition 13 in the report. Unitary Development Plan Policies O7 and O8 (with regard to open space issues) were raised and discussed on the night. Indeed the Area Planning Manager (West) answered all questions from Members on the night in an exchange directly with the Chair of the Committee, this is also reflected in the minutes of the meeting attached to this response.

The Planning Board considered the report and the officer's presentation and considered that they had enough information with regard to the impact of the proposals on the character of Hambledown Road to enable them to determine the application.

The points raised about amenity issues and Policy O8 was referred to in paragraphs 8.17, 9.6, 9.7 and 9.10 of the report before the Members of the Board that evening. The report to the Planning Board clearly expressed the value that the open space may have to local people. The report also reflected some of the past problems with the site (anti social behaviour, fly tipping, dog fouling) and balanced this against the potential benefits of the proposal and recommended it for approval. The issue of the loss of open space to residents was dealt with in paragraphs 7.4, 7.7 and 9.2 to 9.10 of the report.

With regard to the administrative issues raised the application site does not meet the minimum size threshold for an assessment to be expected to be carried out in respect of the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999 (which is 0.5 Hectares). There are no other special designations or indications for the site or for the type of development proposed that would lead to suggest that such an assessment would be required. Therefore the fact that an Environmental Impact Assessment was not carried out was not because this requirement was ignored but due to the fact that it was not required.

The Board did listen to the speaker Mrs Haydon, Members often ask people who address the meeting to explain where they live in relation to the application site. Members did consider the various comments and objections raised by Mrs Haydon in respect of the proposals and, on balance, resolved to grant planning permission for the proposal.

I hope that the above deals with your concerns and fully explains the actions taken by the Council.

Yours sincerely,

John Comber

Director of Regeneration, Enterprise and Skills

Support Services

Directorate of Regeneration, Enterprise & Skills

Crown Building

48 Woolwich New Road Woolwich

London SE18 6HQ

SE18 6HQ

Main number

020 8854 8888

Textphone