10 apartments above existing building at Ascot House, Finchampstead Road, Wokingham

What was proposed

The application sought to raise and modify the roof and add upper-floor accommodation for 10 apartments, with parking, cycle storage, refuse stores and landscaping.

“Applicant Klara Ascot Ltd Site Address Ascot House, Finchampstead Road, Wokingham, RG40 2NW Proposal Full application for the proposed raising and modification of the roof of the existing building plus the erection of an extension to form additional first, second and third floor accommodation in order to create 10 no. additional dwellings with car parking, cycle parking, refuse stores, landscaping and associated works.”

Officer report

The site and surroundings

Ascot House is a residential building in Wokingham Town Centre at a prominent junction, near larger town-centre buildings and smaller residential areas.

“Notwithstanding the height of adjoining buildings within the nodal corner, there is a much finer urban grain to the north, east & south of the application site predominantly characterised by 2, 2.5 and 3 storey residential development as well as other commercial/ converted commercial apartments units of parallel scale to the proposal.”

“Ascot House was previously an office building that has benefitted from various alterations under the prior approval mechanism to facilitate its conversion to residential. Along with the use itself, the form has been altered to habit residential use with façade and roof alterations approved under application 211020.”

Officer report

What officers recommended

Officers recommended approval because the proposal reused previously developed land, provided housing in a sustainable location and was considered well designed.

“Extending this building to provide a more efficient use of the site for residential purposes in a highly sustainable location is accepted in principle subject to careful consideration of other material factors. The National Planning Policy Framework affords a presumption in favour of the efficient use of land, as well as best utilising previously developed land which the proposal achieves.”

“Given the Council's inability to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, the presumption in favour of sustainable development under paragraph 11(d) of the NPPF is engaged. This proposal directly contributes to meeting the borough's acute housing need while utilising a site well-located within defined settlement boundaries, compliant with the spatial strategy within the development plan both current, as well as that anticipated in the future.”

Officer report

Main planning concerns

Officers identified limited harm from increased height, perceived overlooking and some accessibility and daylight shortfalls, but considered these outweighed by the benefits.

“To conclude, whilst there is a recognised degree of harm associated with the development in terms of perceived overlooking, given the existing levels of intervisibility in this Town Centre location, combined with recessed additional floors and privacy screens. These factors are considered to weight against the development and will be considered in the overall planning balance at the end of this report.”

“Through discussion with officers at pre-application stage, the roof form has been set down and sloped to create form that does not significantly intrude on access to daylight/ sunlight to adjoining properties in accordance with the Borough Design Guide. This further allows the vertical light of the sun to access neighbouring habitable windows. However, limited levels of harm have been demonstrated to exist to existing apartments at Ascot House.”

Officer report

Objections and concerns

The town council, ward members and residents raised concerns about appearance, privacy, parking, consultation, affordable housing, accessibility, construction and environmental effects.

“Harm to neighbouring amenity (Officer note: This is assessed within the ‘neighbouring amenity’ section of this report). • Harm to the character and appearance of the area (Officer note: this is addressed within the ‘character and appearance’ section of this report). • Conflict with CP9 of the Core Strategy (Officer note: the proposal accords with CP9, which relates to the spatial strategy, not character and appearance).”

“No provision of a lift, accessibility issues for young families, the elderly and disabled (Officer note: This is assessed within the ‘accessibility section of this report). • Lacking affordable housing (Officer note: Viability is a material consideration, and a contribution in lieu has been secured). • Inadequate parking provision (Officer note: WBC Highways raise no objection to the development, and view the parking provision as sufficient).”

Officer report

Who spoke

A resident spoke against the application, while the applicant spoke in support and described housing benefits and measures to reduce construction disruption.

What members discussed

Members discussed consultation, fire safety, privacy, accessibility, affordable housing and whether the proposal would worsen the existing relationship with Kendrick Close.

“Greater detail was requested on the fire regulations following the concerns that had been highlighted. It was confirmed that building regulations would deal with construction of the building from that particular aspect, and that the fire safety information relevant to the planning process had been provided at this stage, and an external fire escape staircase would be provided for the new levels.”

“Whilst it was acknowledged that the original planning permission for the building in 1986 had created a compact relationship between Kendrick Close and the application site, discussion centred around whether further development would cause any greater level of harm. Cllr Akhtar suggested that this proposal would cause harm in relation to CP1 and CP3.”

Minutes

The committee vote

The committee resolved to approve the application subject to conditions, informatives and planning obligations.

“APPROVAL subject to conditions, informatives set out on pages 75- 81 of the report, and the following planning obligations:”

“Affordable Housing Contribution – A Contribution in lieu of £22,781 towards the creation of affordable housing in the borough.”

Minutes

The final decision

Permission was approved with a £22,781 affordable housing contribution, travel funding, an employment and skills obligation and biodiversity monitoring.

“Employment and Skills Plan – Employment and Skills Plan or in lieu contribution to be agreed and provided.”

Minutes