A proposed student halls development on a frequently fly-tipped site has been deferred by the council’s planning committee.
The councillor for the area, Barrie Cooper, said that the project, which would be built in unused space between Ayresome Gardens and Crescent Road, could transform the area, which is often used for fly-tipping and discarding needles.
Members of the committee were concerned about the lack of parking, access to the flats, rubbish collection and cycle storage facilities.
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Labour councillor Janet Thompson was keen to vote in favour of the plans but the rest of the committee wanted to defer the application so further arrangements could be made with the applicant.
The plans were for a part-three and part-four storey 75-bed student halls, though the application also requested that it could be used as a HMO.
The owner of the land said that it would be used for student accommodation, however, it was said that the committee could not take Steve Chambers’ word for it as another person, Arif Mushtaq, was the applicant, not him.
“We are a bit confused"
There is already planning permission in place for a 72-bed student accommodation building with a height of 2.5 storeys, however, the owner of the land, Mr Chambers, said that these plans were no longer cost-effective which is why they have gone back to the drawing board.
Mr Chambers said: “We are a bit confused that these three additional rooms have raised reason for refusal now. It makes no reasonable sense because it’s not consistent with the land approval.”
Councillor David Branson was concerned about parking, as well as whether there were adequate pick-up and drop-off zones - something which the planning officers had also mentioned as one of the reasons why they recommended rejecting the project.
He said that he was worried about access to the back of the property because it is narrow, vehicles would only be able to travel in one direction and cars would not be able to turn around.
Mr Chambers said: “It was never ever the intention that a drop-off and pick-up zone would be at the back of the property.
“It was agreed in the first application that the drop-off and pick-up zone would be on Linthorpe Road and there was ample parking on Linthorpe Road opposite the One Life building.
“It’s in such close proximity that anybody dropping students off would get dropped off on Linthorpe Road and simply walk across the park and into the front door.”
As part of the planning permission that is already approved, four on-site parking spaces were included, alongside 48 bike spots, but parking was not included in this application.
"The neighbours are fully supportive"
Middlesbrough Council's planning officers called for the plans to be rejected, in part, because of the height of the four storeys and the impact it would have on neighbouring residents, as well as the negative impact the building could have on the appearance of the Albert Park and Linthorpe Road Conservation Area.
However, during a pre-planning application meeting, Mr Chambers said that the council’s development control manager Andrew Glossop confirmed that he would be happy for the building to have four storeys.
According to the owner of the land, it was also requested that the building be completely redesigned to make it more modern, however, according to Mr Chambers, after plans were revealed, they were then told that it needed to be in keeping with the heritage area, which sparked another redesign.
Mr Chambers said that the building was not overbearing and considerably smaller in height than the temple building next door - he added that he had made seven changes to the project at the request of the council since the start of this process.
In response to concerns around access for emergency services, Mr Chambers said that a fire engine could gain entrance by the rear, a sprinkler system would be fitted and a fire hydrant riser would be installed so that firefighters could connect their hoses at the building.
Nearly 60 consultation letters were sent out to nearby properties and the project did not receive any objections.
Mr Chambers said: “There have been no objection letters whatsoever from any of the neighbours, the neighbours are fully supportive.”
He went on to add: “It’s just constantly fly-tipped. There are issues with drug use, it’s just horrendous down there. I literally clear that site every couple of months and fill numerous bags with needles and debris.”
"I would thoroughly recommend that we go for this"
Cllr Cooper, who is the council’s executive member for environment and finance and governance, but speaking in his capacity as a ward councillor for Newport, said: “This to me looks absolutely fabulous.”
He added that he didn’t think there was a need to ensure parking because the university was accessible via bike or on foot.
He said that the area currently had barbed wire fencing and graffiti and rubbish was dumped there by nearby residents, therefore the project would improve the area.
Cllr Cooper added: “What concerns me is we have a piece of derelict land there, that’s stood there for at least ten years and if we don't get this in here, it’ll probably stand there for the next ten years as well.
"So I would thoroughly recommend that we go for this.”
While there are objections assigned to Cllr Cooper in the committee report, he admitted, after initially denying that they were his, that his negative comments were from a long time ago and he had forgotten he made them.
Cllr David Coupe said that he thought it was an excellent development but wanted to delay the application to iron out the issues raised in the meeting.
One of his concerns was about the trees on the land and what would happen to them if the development went ahead.
In response, Mr Chambers that there was a full report which detailed how far the trees could be cut back and calculated where the roots are - which was not an issue for the current project.
He said that further discussions would need to take place regarding trees the council has recently planted.
Cllr Julia Rostron said that students generated a huge amount of rubbish through takeaways and lager cans.
She does not believe there was enough provision to deal with this - in the drawings submitted with the application there is space for four Eurobin style bins but 14 are recommended, half for rubbish and half for recycling, for a building of this size.
The Labour councillor was also concerned about cycle storage - the planning officers cast doubt on whether the cycle spaces would be used on the upper floors of the building.
The application will now be deferred and will need to return to the planning committee next year once changes to the proposals have been made.
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