At its meeting on Wednesday 8 February the City Planning Commitee met to consider the application to develop a 26 bed purpose built student accommodation block on the old Maximum Motors site in Howell Road (detail here). Each of our three Ward Councillors as well as Trust Chair, Robyn Connett, spoke in turn to argue the case for rejecting the Officer’s recommendation that permision be granted relying on the key aim of the Neighbourhood Plan “to ensure an appropriate balance between student resident and permanent resident population to ensure the sustainability of the community”.
Thanks to all who submitted comments as the large number of individuals objecting to the proposal was noted by the meeting and played no small part in helping to inform Members’ decision. In the event they voted convincingly not to accept the recommendation but a decision was deferred to a later meeting to allow the Planning Officer to prepare a revised Report with robust rationale for refusal. We await the application’s return to Planning Committe when confirmation of the decision to refuse is eagerly anticipated.
Watch this space – your support may well be needed again!
