Agenda item

Proposal: The proposed demolition of No.1 Langley Hill and the amalgamation of its land with that at no. 32 is to enable the construction of a very substantial brick and handmade clay tiled gable and hipped roof tiled inverted 2.5 storey (with basement) ‘L’ shaped rear extension to the approved care home building and the provision of a new GP doctors surgery. The care home would provide 21 new bedrooms in addition to the approved 36.

The development will be accommodated along the whole of the site's northern (adjoining Langley Hill Close) and western sides. It will feature a linking two storey component within the site's north west corner providing a communal glazed lounge room/ conservatory and associated garden, closest to no. 7 Langley Hill Close.

The development's central communal/ shared courtyard will be linked to the existing Langley Hill access. This will provide vehicular turning and access to the parking serving the surgery and the care home. There will be 4 parking spaces for the surgery with 15 for the care home.

N Gibbs introduced the report and said it had been referred to committee due to the contrary views of Kings Langley Parish Council. N Gibbs drew members’ attention to the late representations in the addendum and bedrooms 37, 39 and 41 will now have other uses.

Corina Ciobanu spoke in support of the application.

Phil Cheetham and Jeff Folkins spoke in objection to the application.

Having there been no proposer to grant this application in line with the officer’s recommendation, it was proposed by Councillor Birnie and seconded by Councillor Ritchie that the officer’s recommendation be overturned and the application be refused.

Vote

For: 8               Against: 0                    Abstained: 3

Resolved

That planning permission be REFUSED due to the following reasons:

The proposed surgery will be served by inadequate off street parking which demonstrates that the scheme represents an overdevelopment of the site. The identified significant shortfall of parking will result in parking overspill from the surgery placing constant increased daily pressures upon the very busy pubic car parks in Kings Langley especially that opposite the application site. Langley Hill and the High Street will also be subject to additional on street parking pressures. The proposal would therefore be contrary to Policy CS12 (Quality of Design) of the Dacorum Core Strategy wherein on each site new development should comply with a range of design criteria, including (b) which expects the provision of sufficient parking.  With less available customer parking to serve Kings Langley Village Local Centre - due to the proposal’s shortfall in parking - there will be a negative impact upon the Kings Langley Local Centre’s businesses customer/ operator base where the Dacorum Core Strategy Kings Langley Place Strategy supports the maintenance of the shopping and service role of the village centre.

Article 35 Statement

Planning permission has been refused for this proposal for the clear reasons set out in this decision notice. The Council acted pro-actively through positive engagement with the applicant in an attempt to narrow down the reasons for refusal but fundamental objections could not be overcome. The Council has therefore acted pro-actively in line with the requirements of the Framework (paragraphs 186 and 187) and in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) (Amendment No. 2) Order 2015.