Eight residential units at Land rear of 161-165 Balham High Road (and Rear of The Exhibit, 12 Balham Station Road)

“APPLICATION DETAILS: Planning permission is sought for the erection of a part two/three storey building to provide 8 residential units, together with alterations including the relocation of an existing substation within the site, and provision of waste and cycle stores. It is proposed to erect a part two/three L-shaped form building along the north-west/north-east corner of the site. The short arm to the north-west would comprise the two storey element.”

“It would include a stepped wall to the rear to provide a lift. Part of the first and second floors would be set back from the front of the ground floor to provide 9.2sq.m balconies (5.7m wide and 1.6m/2m deep). The three storey element would include windows/doors to the front, rear and sides.”

“SITE DETAILS: The application site is 0.08ha in area and is landlocked behind Balham High Road and Balham Station Road, with access via a vehicular/pedestrian alleyway between Nos.10 and 12 Balham Station Road. It mainly comprises an empty piece of land except for a large substation located to the north-east of the site.”

“To the south-west lies Nos.2 to 10 Balham Station Road, a row of three storey terraced properties with commercial on the ground floor, residential on the first floor and offices on the second floor. To the north-west lies part one/three storey semi-detached properties at Nos.159 to 165 Balham High Road with front and rear ground floor extensions covering the whole footprint of the sites and upper floors well set back from the ground floors.”

“Number of letters sent 27 Site Notice Yes Press Notice No Number of responses received 5 Number of objections 3 Number of comments 2 Number of letters of support 0”

“Environment Services (Noise): no objection subject to conditions relating to insulation against external noise and details of building plant and equipment.”

“Neighbour Consultation Summary OBJECTIONS: summarised as: • Out of character • Not a high quality design • Loss of light • Overlooking • Noise impact from Exhibit • No access for fire brigade • Security issues • Existing anti-social behaviour in the area • Impact on mental health from construction works • Impact on regeneration of Sainsbury’s site…”

“COMMENTS: summarised as: • Condition regarding Japanese Knotweed • Risk of increased burglaries during construction works…”

“Fire safety and the possibility of installing a fire hydrant on the site due to the narrow access for fire vehicles were raised by a Member. The Area Team Manager East Team noted that building control would have to assess the suitability of the distance to the nearest street based fire hydrant, and if a hydrant needed to be installed on the site then this was a matter for building control to consider and officers did not feel there was a need to currently mitigate this given…”

“A Member referred to the proposal in that the windows could be kept closed for mitigation against external noise, and questioned whether this could then create an issue experiencing higher temperatures in the units. The Committee was told that air cooling technology was able to be installed in this case so that windows could be closed and the internal temperature could be controlled during more temperate months.”

“RESOLVED - (unanimous) that planning permission be granted as set out in the report, noting the additional information as set out in the late items of correspondence paper, subject to CIL liable, and subject to the inclusion of consideration of invasive species such as Japanese knotweed under Condition 17 that related to the Construction Environment Management Plan, if this was not already covered.”