Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor John Morgan. Councillor Josephine Barret acted as substitute.

None.

None.

All items were considered in Part 1.

Construction of car park consisting of 150 parking spaces (as well as space for motor cycle parking).Re-consultation following receipt of revised plans, additional and amended supporting reports and amended application form.

Recommendation:

Approval, subject to no objections from Natural England and any additional conditions Natural England may seek to impose and the conditions as stated in the officer report.

Construction of car park consisting of 150 parking spaces (as well as

space for motor cycle parking).Re-consultation following receipt of revised plans, additional and amended supporting reports and amended application form

Officers introduced the report which concerned an application for the construction of a car park (as well as space for motor cycle parking) at Ruislip Lido. The officer presentation included a comprehensive overview of the report and highlighted a number of significant issues including: the proposed design of the scheme, access and egress details and proposed planting and landscaping changes.

Officers explained that the car park was essential to the use of the Lido for open air recreation. The Committee were informed that the existing car park facility was not of sufficient size to accommodate Lido visitors at peak times and this had resulted in high levels of on-street parking in the surrounding area. The proposed car park would help alleviate this problem and also encourage further use of the Lido facilities. Officers advised that the benefits of the car park amounted to very special circumstances and as such, there was not an in principle objection to the scheme.

Officers explained that to be useful and convenient, the car park would need to be located close to the Lido. With regards to access, officers explained that the site had been used as a car park historically and so there was no need to create a new access way through green belt land. Officers explained that alternative sites for the car park had been considered but not been taken forward as they were subject to flood risk. Furthermore, site surveys had confirmed that from an ecological perspective, the application site was less sensitive than surrounding areas.

Officers provided a summary of the changes as set out in the Addendum sheet which included an explanation of the changes to the proposed conditions and the rational behind proposed new informatives. The Committee’s attention was also drawn to the comments of Natural England as set out in Addendum Appendix 1 and the comments provided by the Chair of the Friends of Ruislip Lido as set out in Appendix 2.

Photographs illustrating historic parking problems at the Lido and the displacement of parking to surrounding roads were also circulated amongst the Committee for their information.

In accordance with the Council’s constitution, representatives of the petitions received in objection to the proposal were invited to address the meeting.

Points raised by the petitioners included:

Abuse of Process

• The application had recently been subject to re-consultation on 22^nd June 2012 which had provided only 14 days for responses. The Planning Committee had also been arranged less than one week after close of consultation with the officer’s report being produced several days before the end of the consultation period.
• The report did not address all of the issues raised in residents’ objection letters. Therefore, the petitioners explained that if a decision was made to approve the application, they considered such action would be an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.