12 homeless accommodation apartments at Walters Court, 811 Bath Road, Burnham

The site

The site is in the Green Belt beside Bath Road, with access shared with a Thames Water treatment works and apartments to the north.

“The vehicular access exits onto Bath Road and runs along the western boundary of the site, also providing access to the Thames Water treatment works to the south of the site. The site is currently occupied by the development which this application seeks to retain.”

Officer report

Earlier permissions

The building was constructed and occupied under earlier temporary permissions, including permissions granted in 2018 and 2023.

“17/02391/FUL – Conditional Permission, 3 April 2018 - Two-storey demountable building comprising 12 apartments (3 x one bed and 9 x two bed) (class C3) to provide interim residential accommodation to homeless households with associated car parking, private and shared amenity space, landscaping and other ancillary works. (Temporary permission for a period of 10 years is sought).”

Officer report

What officers recommended

Officers recommended delegated conditional permission because the scheme provides needed homelessness accommodation, uses previously developed land and would not substantially harm Green Belt openness.

“The proposals make effective and efficient use of previously developed land and would make a positive contribution to the Council's housing needs and supply. Specifically, the proposals will retain much needed temporary accommodation for the homeless, for which the Council have a statutory duty to provide.”

“CP10, however, given the limited size of the site, the estimated level of future demand for employment land, and the importance of the type of accommodation being provided, it is considered that any harm due to non- compliance with this policy is limited.”

Officer report

Main planning balance

The scheme would permanently lose employment floorspace and does not meet all housing Golden Rules, but officers considered these harms outweighed by the homelessness benefit.

“It is considered therefore that there is a clear need for this type of housing, and the permanent retention of the existing development will contribute to meeting this continued need. This is considered to be an extremely important benefit of the scheme and it attributed substantial weight in favour of the proposals. Employment Issues: Core Strategy Policies: CP10 Employment 4.20 Prior to the temporary permissions to use the site for the current form of…”

“The Council consider that given the critical need for the Council to provide additional emergency accommodation in the borough, combined with the fact that the new local plan won’t be adopted for almost another 2 years, changing the permission from temporary to permanent is considered to be a preferable outcome, rather than the reversion of the site to a potential commercial site which may or may not be delivered in accordance with Policy CP10 of the Core Strategy.”

Officer report

Consultation responses

The parish council had no objections, while environmental health, highways and ecology comments supported approval subject to appropriate safeguards.

“Parish/Town Council Comments The committee RESOLVED to state that they had NO OBJECTIONS.”

“Environmental Health (Noise/odour): This application has been reviewed from an Environmental Health (EH) perspective, specifically relating to potential nuisance. The documents submitted for this application are the same as those submitted for 17/02391/FUL for temporary use. No conditions related to noise/odour/ventilation was on the decision notice.”

Officer report

Who spoke

There were no speakers for this application.

The committee vote

Members voted in favour of the officer recommendation, following a proposal by Councillor Tett seconded by Councillor West.

“Members voted in favour of the motion to approve the application, in accordance with the Officer’s recommendation to: Defer and delegate to the Director of Planning and Environment to grant conditional permission subject to the conditions set out in this report and any others which he considers appropriate and the completion of a Memorandum of Understanding or an acceptable Planning Obligation, whichever is appropriate, to secure the required mitigation for Burnham Beeches…”

“It was proposed by Cllr M Tett and seconded by Cllr M West.”

Minutes