Decision(s): The planning application was first heard by the previous Minister for Planning and Environment in a Public Meeting on 25 September 2014. At this Ministerial Meeting the Minister received the first Department Report with a recommendation of approval and heard verbal representations for and against the application. At this meeting the application was deferred by the Minister for site visits to neighbouring properties and legal advice. The planning application reverted back to a Ministerial Public Meeting on 06 February 2015 before the current Minister for Planning and Environment. At this Ministerial Meeting, the Minister received an Updated Department of the Environment Report dated 23 January 2015 and heard public comment in relation to the planning application. The Minister deferred his decision pending a site visit and to consider the application further expressing concerns regarding the public car parking provision amongst other matters. Site visits to neighbouring properties (including viewing of the application site from the inside of the neighbouring properties) and the surrounding area were undertaken by the Minister and the Planning Case Officer on 10 February 2015. Following the site visits the Minister expressed some concerns regarding the impact of the proposed development on neighbouring properties on Tunnell Street and regarding views and opening up of the gap between the Town Park and the public square in the development. The Minister then provided the applicant with the opportunity to reconsider the proposed scheme and consequently Planning Officers discussed amended plans with Jersey Gas and its architects in a series of meetings. Subsequently amended plans were submitted by the Applicant on 27 February 2015 which changes the scheme to respond to the concerns expressed by objectors. The changes included the following: • The views between the Town Park and the main public square within the development have been opened up by doubling the size of the gap between the blocks facing the Town Park. • The proposed apartment buildings on Tunnel Street have been set further back from the pavement (with additional landscaping) to increase the distance between the existing properties on the opposite side of Tunnell Street and the proposed development. • The top floor of the proposed south/south-west block onto Tunnell Street has been removed and the floor below set back further from the main front elevation. • The proposed development has been set back further from the roadside and reconfigured onto L’Avenue Et Dolmen du Pres des Lumieres and additional landscaping incorporated. • The proposed apartment buildings on St Saviours Road have been set back further from the pavement with additional landscaping including trees to act as a buffer to the traffic. The amended plans were available to view on the planning internet site and in the planning reception and letters were sent out to people who had made representations on the planning application informing them of the amended plans being submitted. Further letters of representation were subsequently received by the Department which the Minister duly considered in detail. A further email consultation response from Transport and Technical Services was received on 06 March 2015 requesting that a commuted sum is proceeded with to provide public car parking elsewhere and not on site. The Minister confirmed he has considered the amended plans and all representations received including letters received, representations at the public meeting and representations at the site visits as well as having seen the issues at first hand from certain neighbouring residential properties. The application was received by the Department on 22 July 2014 and the Minister considers that due to this length of time since submission that the Applicant should quite rightly expect a decision and drawing out this situation further without a decision, is not good practice. The decision therefore has to be one to approve or refuse the application as it currently stands. Since the public Ministerial Meeting the officers have worked hard with the Applicant in an attempt to address the issues raised by the objectors and to address the reservations expressed by the Minister at that Ministerial Meeting. The main issues that needed to be addressed in the Minister’s mind were parking, the potential overbearing effect of the proposals on the properties on Tunnell Street, the general massing of the proposals, the connectivity of the proposed scheme to the Town Park, and finally the density of the development. The Minister also considered this application strategically as one of four similar large schemes that will be constructed in this part of St Helier in the near future and considered it acceptable in this regard. Taking each of these issues in turn: Impact on Tunnell Street The submitted architect plans with the application provide sections, floor plans and elevations as well as 3d visual plans showing the proposed development in its context. This is an outline planning application and thus the elevation design, landscaping and siting of balconies are to be considered at Reserved Matters stage. It is the scale and massing of the development that is being considered at this Outline stage. Tunnell Street is a relatively narrow street with pavements to both sides with mainly commercial properties to the eastern part and largely 2 storey cottages to the western part opposite the application site. The proposed development would be predominantly 4 storeys in height onto Tunnell Street with semi-basement parking and the top floor set back further from the main elevation. The North of St Helier Masterplan states that development across the application site should be predominantly 5.5 storeys and approximately 300 dwellings and will need to be sympathetic to the scale of neighbouring buildings. The Development Brief for the Jersey Gas site states that there is considered potential for up to 6 storeys on the northern boundary and 4 storeys along the southern boundary of the site which should respect the existing street context. Whilst it is acknowledged that there will be an impact from the proposed development on the neighbouring properties particularly in Tunnell Street, with the submission of the amended plans which set back the development further from the roadside and reduced the height and scale of the development onto Tunnell Street (by removing the top floor of the south-west/south block and setting back the floor below) and with the addition of Condition 22 on the Decision Notice setting back further (by a total of 4 m from the front face of the building) the top floor of Block C facing Tunnell Street, the Minister did not consider that the impact of the development would ‘unreasonably harm the amenities of neighbouring uses’ which is the test set by Policy GD1 of the 2011 Island Plan (as revised 2014). Parking provision The Minister considers it unacceptable that a commuted sum should be paid for public parking spaces that cannot be delivered. The idea of the commuted sum is to provide public parking. TTS have informed the Minister since the Ministerial Meeting that there is no obvious site for alternative public parking. Unless this situation changes, and TTS locate a site for additional public parking, it is clear to the Minister that the proposed level of public parking will have to be delivered on site. This public parking must be in addition to the provision for residents. The proposed parking level is for a total of 230 parking spaces, 30 of which would be public spaces. The calculation of 0.7 parking spaces per unit is a minimum level and should not be decreased. The final parking numbers and layout is to be considered at Reserved Matters stage, but it is considered that the proposed parking provision is acceptable given the site’s sustainable central location close to bus routes and the town centre. Connectivity to the Town Park The amended proposals for ‘connectivity’ to the Town Park give a much wider and easier access for the public to gain entry to the proposed public spaces within the development and to maximise views between the public square in the development and the Town Park. It is considered that the proposal in this respect is acceptable. Massing and density of the development The amended plans show the buildings set back from the pavement all around the development site particularly including St Saviour’s Road and Tunnell Street. The ability to screen the new buildings and provide a buffer to the road with natural foliage and trees will help the scheme and the set back is very much in keeping with the surrounding area. The density is in line with the North of Town Masterplan and Development Brief for the site and with the amendments made it is considered that the density and massing is at an acceptable level. In the context of all of the above, the Minister resolved to endorse the Department recommendation that the application be approved, subject to Planning Conditions as listed in the Decision Notice dated 09 March 2015 and the completion of the Planning Obligation Agreement to deliver a financial sum to provide a bus shelter in the vicinity of the site, a financial sum to the proposed cycle/pedestrian link from Tunnell Street to Belmont Road and to provide 30 public parking spaces in the semi-basement car park on the application site. The decision is therefore to APPROVE | 
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