08/01222/FUL ERECTION OF SINGLE STOREY SIDE EXTENSION TO CHURCH TO PROVIDE FOR PARISH HALL (RESUBMISSION OF 08/00206/FUL) AT St Mary And St Giles Church, Church Street, Stony Stratford FOR Rev R Northing & PCC Stony Stratford Church INTRODUCTION This application is a resubmitted scheme from 08/00206/FUL which was withdrawn before determination due to unresolved archaeology issues. The archaeology works comprising a pre-determination archaeological evaluation have now been carried out. The application site is St Mary and St Giles Church located on the corner of High Street and Church Street, Stony Stratford. The church is grade II* listed and qualifies for ecclesiastical exemption from the need for Listed Building consent. The site is located in a very prominent and sensitive location within the Stony Stratford Conservation Area and within the setting of many adjacent listed buildings. CURRENT APPLICATION The proposal is for the part demolition of the existing lady chapel, stores and boiler room, and construction of an extension to the church comprising a new hall, boiler room, toilets and stores. The extension will be visible from Church Street. The extension will be 13.5 x 6.6 metres with ridge height of 5.5 metres. Materials proposed will match existing. This application is linked to several applications including one for the Parish Hall on London Road where the use of the existing Hall will be lost. Supplementary information states that there will be no loss of community facilities as a result of the replacement within the proposed extension. MAIN ISSUES 1. Listed Building and Conservation Area considerations 2. Protection of Known Archaeological Remains 3. Parking RELEVANT PLANNING HISTORY 05/01239/FUL - Installation of lighting to southern path in churchyard - Permitted. 08/00206/FUL - Erection of single storey side extension to church to provide for parish hall - Withdrawn. (28)
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08/01222/FUL ERECTION OF SINGLE STOREY SIDE EXTENSION TO CHURCH TO PROVIDE FOR PARISH HALL (RESUBMISSION OF 08/00206/FUL)AT St Mary And St Giles Church, Church Street, Stony StratfordFOR Rev R Northing & PCC Stony Stratford Church
INTRODUCTION
This application is a resubmitted scheme from 08/00206/FUL which was withdrawn before determination due to unresolved archaeology issues. The archaeology works comprising a pre-determination archaeological evaluation have now been carried out.
The application site is St Mary and St Giles Church located on the corner of High Street and Church Street, Stony Stratford. The church is grade II* listed and qualifies for ecclesiastical exemption from the need for Listed Building consent. The site is located in a very prominent and sensitive location within the Stony Stratford Conservation Area and within the setting of many adjacent listed buildings.
CURRENT APPLICATION
The proposal is for the part demolition of the existing lady chapel, stores and boiler room, and construction of an extension to the church comprising a new hall, boiler room, toilets and stores. The extension will be visible from Church Street. The extension will be 13.5 x 6.6 metres with ridge height of 5.5 metres. Materials proposed will match existing.
This application is linked to several applications including one for the Parish Hall on London Road where the use of the existing Hall will be lost. Supplementary information states that there will be no loss of community facilities as a result of the replacement within the proposed extension.
MAIN ISSUES
1. Listed Building and Conservation Area considerations 2. Protection of Known Archaeological Remains 3. Parking
RELEVANT PLANNING HISTORY
05/01239/FUL - Installation of lighting to southern path in churchyard - Permitted.08/00206/FUL - Erection of single storey side extension to church to provide for parish hall - Withdrawn.
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08/00760/FUL - Conversion of existing Parish Hall to residential dwelling incorporating rear extension and parking (Resubmission of 08/00208/FUL) - Determination pending the outcome of the proposal 08/01222/FUL for the replacement hall.
RELEVANT PLANNING POLICIES
Policies of the Milton Keynes Local Plan 2001-2011 particularly relevant to the present application include: - D1: Impact of the Proposal on the Locality - D2: Design of Buildings - C2: Protection of Community Facilities- HE1: Protection of Archaeological Sites - HE4: Extension or Alteration of a Listed Building - HE5: Setting of Listed Buildings - HE6: Conservation Areas
- PPG15: Planning and the Historic Environment - PPG16: Archaeology and Planning
CONSULTATIONS AND REPRESENTATIONS
Stony Stratford Town Council - Under the previous reference, the Town Council welcomed the proposals. Any formal response on the re-submitted application will be reported.
Environmental Health Officer - No objections subject to a condition relating to ground conditions and remediation.
Development Plans commented with the following advice:
"This application is for a replacement facility that is required under the criteria of Local Plan Policy C2. The policy requires replacement facilities to be at least equivalent to the existing facility in terms of size, function, adaptability and accessibility, which meets the need of the local community.
"Whilst understanding the argument that the existing building suffers due to its state of repair, planning policy dictates that we will need to be satisfied that the criteria above have been satisfied.
"The design and access statement seems to conclude that simply by providing this facility, it will automatically replace the existing Parish Hall. This is not the case. No effort is made to show how it meets the criteria for a replacement facility, and I would question whether it is clear cut that this is an appropriate replacement facility.
"Whilst it appears to be similar in function and will obviously improve on the quality of the building, I would have concerns that the building is as accessible as the existing facility, which I believe has its own car parking. The design and access statement refers to the use of the existing market square car park- I do
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not know if this is an acceptable or viable option given the car park’s size and existing role within the town. The views of the Highways Team on whether the accessibility of this replacement facility can be compared to the existing Parish Hall will be important in making this judgement.
"Whilst not preventing this application being approved in its own right, the outcome of this may have knock-on effects for the acceptability of the associated application. As I said earlier, simply securing a planning permission for a new building doesn't fulfil the criteria of C2. There have been similar situations where permission has been secured for a replacement facility but on analysis, the secondary application has been refused as the replacement does not satisfy the criteria of C2.
"To conclude, assuming there are no objections from other departments to the application, in principle I am happy that the application can be approved. However, this does not automatically mean the subsequent application for the conversion of the Parish Hall should be approved. Further consideration will need to be given as to whether the church extension can be classed as an equivalent replacement before this can determined. As well as the access issue, this would also need to look at the size, function and adaptability of the new extension."
Design and Conservation Officer advises:
"The proposed extension echoes the details and character of the church building and is considered to be sympathetic in location, grain, form, mass and scale, however details and information are required for the materials to match the existing in order to ensure that the proposals will not adversely affect the setting of the adjacent listed buildings and would preserve the character and appearance of the conservation area. It is considered that while the proposed extension will remove a part of the open area of the church yard fronting on to Church Street the street scene views in the historic context will in the main be retained as will the green space in the townscape.
"Approve with conditions as the proposed extension is considered to preserve the setting of the adjacent listed buildings and the character and appearance of the Conservation Area and comply with Sections 66, 72 of the Planning (Listed Buildings & Conservation Areas) Act 1990, Local Plan Policies HE5 and HE6 and the guidance in PPS 1 and PPG 15.
Highways Development Control Engineer comments were received:
“The application site has no space for parking on site, whereas provision should be 9 spaces. The church is situated in the town centre of Stony Stratford where there are off-street car parks in close proximity to the application site as well as on-street car parking availability in the adjacent residential roads. Both types of parking are within easy walking distance of the church and therefore the proposed development. I therefore consider that the proposed development can be adequately served by the existing car parking availability. No objections raised."
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Archaeological Officer - As the pre-determination archaeological investigation proposed the use of a concrete raft foundation to preserve the archaeological remains in situ the proposal is acceptable subject to a condition to secure the implementation of a programme of archaeological work in accordance with an agreed scheme of investigation.
English Heritage advises that it offers no comments and that the application should be determined in accordance with the national and local policy guidance.
Five letters have been received objecting to the application on the following grounds:
- The proposal would block views of the original church / stained windows - Loss of green open space - Detrimental impact on the Conservation Area - Disturbance of graves / archaeological evidence - Lack of justification / need for extension - Introduction of a dominant feature - Increased pressure on parking - Increased traffic volume - Noise and disturbance in the town centre - Detrimental impact on the fabric of the existing church - Potential of additional hardstanding and footpaths - Impact on the Lady Chapel- Loss of available light to the inside of the Church - Impact on the view of the Church for passers by
CONSIDERATIONS
As noted above the Design and Conservation Officer has noted that the proposal is in accordance with pre-application advice but lacks information in relation to materials and landscaping. The Design and Conservation Officer has no objections to the proposal subject to conditions relating to materials, chimney details, rainwater goods, stone samples, movement joints, window details, stone and timber details and lead roof details.
The Archaeological Officer initially objected to the previous application however the necessary investigations have now been carried out and the previous objection is no longer upheld, subject to imposition of a condition.
The Highway Engineer considers that the proposal can be adequately served by the nearby parking provision and has not expressed concerns of a possible increase in traffic.
With regard to the objection on the grounds of lack of justification for the extension, it is considered that this is not a planning concern and cannot be taken into consideration.
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The issue of providing this facility as a replacement to that which would be potentially lost with the application at the Parish Hall in Stony Stratford is one which has been subject of much discussion and the submission of several applications which have tried to achieve a suitable outcome for the loss of the Parish Hall on London Road in order to comply with Policy C2. There is not a formal objection to this application from Development Plans however the undetermined application for the Parish Hall (08/00760/FUL) may need further discussion as this proposes the loss of an existing community facility. To satisfy Policy C2 the applicant will have to demonstrate that either there is no longer a need for the facility at London Road for any type of community use, or that the facility now proposed at Church Street is an acceptable alternative.
With regard to the objection on loss of view of the church and windows and impact on the Conservation Area, the Design and Conservation Officer considers the proposal be sympathetic in location and scale and retains the historic context and would not have a detrimental impact on the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. The proposed extension will be visible from Church Street and the High Street however the overall impact is not considered to be unacceptable overall.
With regard to the objection on the grounds of noise and disturbance, it is considered unlikely that the proposal would lead to any greater noise and disturbance than is already present in this town centre location.
The loss of green space, when comparing existing to proposed footprint, is not considered significant and would not result in a detrimental impact on the character and appearance of the area.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that permission be granted subject to conditions relating to materials, chimney details, rainwater goods, stone samples, movement joints, window details, stone and timber details, lead roof details, assessment of ground conditions and the submission of an archaeological programme of works.
