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Committee Date: 08/05/2014 Application Number: 2014/00817/PA

Accepted: 05/02/2014 Application Type: Full Planning

Target Date: 07/05/2014

Ward: South Yardley

23 Albion Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, B11 2NR

Change of Use from Class B2 to a conference/training (Monday to Friday) and wedding (Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday) venue Applicant: R M & S S Investments

23 Albion Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, B11 2NR Agent: Star Planning & Development

140 Brandwood Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 6BX

Recommendation Approve Temporary 1. Proposal 1.1. Planning permission is sought to change the use of a vacant factory building (floor

area 2224 sqm) to a conference and training venue during weekdays (Monday to Friday) and a wedding venue (Friday evenings, Saturday and Sunday).

1.2. The proposed hours of use are 8am to 10pm for the conferencing use and 8am to 10.30pm for weddings.

1.3. The building was completed on 1st May 2010 but has not been used as an extension

to the bed manufacturing business at 21 Albion Road. Accommodation is mainly over 2 floors with a small office suite on the third floor. It is anticipated that the conferencing/ exhibition type uses would be used in a flexible way and room dividers would be installed so that only the spaces required for each individual event would be used. For the wedding use proposed, the agent has provided a floor plan that shows that up to 220 covers could be accommodated on one of the floors. It is considered that for logistical reasons (setting up and catering etc) that only one floor would be used at any one time and therefore only one wedding at any one time.

1.4. 25 car parking spaces would be available for the proposed uses on the application

site and a further 80 on land to the rear of the site on land also within the applicants ownership.

2. The proposals would create 5 full time and 15 part time jobs

Floor and Elevational Plans Proposed parking plan Site Location Plan

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3. Site & Surroundings 3.1. The application site is located within an industrial area, adjacent to other industrial

units. Generally to the north and east of the site is a large area of land that has historically been used for a variety of industrial uses notably Specialist Computer Company in Seeleys Road and Kalsi Plastics accessed off Golden Hillock Road. Albion Road itself mixed in nature with the first half of the road from the Warwick Road towards the industrial section being predominantly residential. The surrounding roads are narrow with high demand for on street parking.

Location Plan Street View

4. Planning History 4.1. 8/10/2008 application number 2008/03722/PA – Erection of new industrial unit (class

B2) including ancillary offices, canteen and reception – approved

4.2. 15/8/2013 application number 2013/03824/PA - change of use from B2 to conference/training and wedding venue – withdrawn.

5. Consultation/PP Responses 5.1. Local residents, councillors and MP were notified; the proposals were advertised in

the press and a site notice posted outside of the site. No representations have been received.

5.2 Transportation have concerns regarding the availability of on street car parking within the area and are not convinced at the accuracy of the agent’s car parking survey. In addition to conditions addressing the restriction of the numbers of customers/covers for each use, the requirement for a car parking management strategy, affiliation to Travel wise, cessation of the use should the identified parking become unavailable, the provision of cycle storage and no open storage it is recommended that a temporary one year consent be granted in the first instance to allow the Local Planning Authority to monitor the impacts of the use on the surrounding highway network.

5.3 Regulatory Services recommend refusal. The operation of a conferencing suite and

wedding venue is likely to disturb the amenity of neighbouring residents as a result of noise. Noise sources include patrons, loud music as well as large crowds of people accessing the outside area (particularly to smoke and whilst leaving late at night). It may be possible to mitigate noise from patrons and music from within the building but without having a specification of noise insulation it is not possible to determine if it is commercially viable for the applicant to implement the noise insulation scheme that would be required. It is not clear how the applicant would mitigate noise from patrons accessing the outside areas during noise sensitive times as they have not produced a noise survey as previously requested.

6. Policy Context

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6.1. NPPF; UDP 2005, Draft BDP, Loss of Industrial Land to Alternative Uses SPD, Car Park Design SPD

7. Planning Considerations 7.1. The NPPF identifies a “presumption in favour of sustainable development” as the

Government’s overarching objective and states at paragraph 22 that “planning policies should avoid the long term protection of sites allocated for employment use where there is no reasonable prospect of a site being used for the purpose…applications for alternative uses of land or buildings should be treated on their merits having regard to market signals and the relative need for different land uses to support sustainable local communities.”

7.2. The UDP at paragraph 4.31 states that “ the loss of industrial land to retail or other uses will not be supported except in cases where the site is a non-conforming use.” The application of this policy has been amplified in the Loss of Industrial Land SPD. This identifies three factors to be taken into account in assessing proposals for non-industrial development on former industrial land. These are:

• Whether the site is non-conforming • Whether the site has been actively marketed for industrial development for a

minimum of two years • The viability of the site for industrial development

7.3 The site is clearly not non-conforming as it is located within an industrial area (albeit

on the edge of residential) but the agent has provided information and evidence that the site has been marketed for industrial purposes since May 2010. GBR Pheonix Beard and Assured Estates have erected advertising boards on the building and adjacent to the Warwick Road, listed the availability of the premises on various property websites and circulated brochures to interested parties. The agent states that although very competitive financial terms have been offered there have only been 16 enquiries and none of them have crystallised into potential occupiers for a variety of reasons including that the building is not fit for purpose, its floor area is spread over 2 floors and the associated yard area is too small. No viewings have taken place between the period after the previous planning application was withdrawn and the current resubmission.

7.4 Based upon the evidence submitted by the agent and the fact that the factory unit

was only built to accommodate the adjoining bed manufacturer’s planned extension (that never actually happened), Planning Strategy raise no objection to the loss of this unit for employment purposes. I concur with this view and consider in policy terms that the proposed change of use is acceptable.

7.5 Transportation Issues 7.6 Concerns relate to the potential impact of parking demand created by the proposed

uses which have the potential to generate significantly higher levels of parking demand than the permitted use of the site (as a factory) and the subsequent impact of such upon surrounding public highways, where opportunities for additional parking pressure to be safely accommodated are scant. The agent has failed to adequately demonstrate that there is sufficient car parking availability within the area to satisfactorily accommodate the proposed day time conference/training uses that would operate whilst the adjoining factories would also be operating. This element

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concerns Transportation Development most but it is suggested, on balance, that a one-year temporary consent be granted in the first instance to allow the situation in practice to be monitored. In addition to this it is also recommended that the area identified for user parking (currently the loading area for the existing factory) be used for no other purpose and that the number of delegates be restricted to 100. I concur with this view and consider it to be a pragmatic and sensible approach – the agent and applicant have agreed to the one year consent. Transportation is less concerned about the weekend wedding element as the applicant also owns land to the rear of the site which can accommodate up to an additional 80 cars. Subject to a condition requiring the use to cease should this parking become unavailable and a condition restricting wedding covers to 220 and that only one wedding takes place at one time (on one floor only), there is no objection. I concur with this view subject to the overall temporary one-year consent.

7.7 Impact on residential amenity 7.8 Regulatory Services have recommended refusal of the application on the grounds

that the wedding use would adversely impact on residential premises nearby from noise from within the unit (from music) and from outside (220 people congregating, car doors slamming, engines revving etc) at 10.30 pm at weekends. Despite having requested a noise assessment, the agent has not provided one. Some details of how the building has been constructed have recently been provided but Regulatory Services do not consider that they have sufficient information to overcome their concerns. Following lengthy discussions Regulatory Services have provided conditions that they would like to see imposed on any temporary consent that Committee may wish to grant. Such conditions include limits to the entertainment noise, hours of use (to those stipulated by the applicant), that all windows and doors be closed except for access and egress, no external speakers, before the building is brought into use a noise limiting device shall be agreed and installed at the premises and a requirement for marshals to ensure patrons park in suitable areas in a considerate manner. I have attached these conditions and consider that they would be effective in controlling the use to a sufficient degree to not adversely impact upon residential amenity subject to temporary monitoring. The applicant has advised that food would be brought in by external caterers rather than prepared on site, which therefore would reduce set up costs for the purposes of assessing the reasonableness of a temporary consent approach.

8. Conclusion 8.1. In terms of planning policy, I consider the proposals to be acceptable. The proposals

would result in the re-use of a vacant building and create 5 full time and 15 part time jobs. The granting of a temporary consent would allow a full assessment to be made of the impact of the uses on parking and highway issues and residential amenity.

9. Recommendation 9.1. That a one year temporary permission be granted. 1 Requires the scheme to be in accordance with the listed approved plans

2 Prevents the use from changing within the use class

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3 Requires the applicants to join Travelwise

4 Limits the hours of operation to only take place between the hours of 0800 - 2200 Sunday to Friday for conference and training uses, and between 0800 - 2230 on Friday and Saturday (apart from Bank Holidays) for weddings and banquets.

5 Limits the maximum number of Customers/Covers (100 for conference/training and 220 for weddings)

6 Noise assessment required to be undertaken

7 Requires the prior submission of cycle storage details

8 The areas indicated for car parking for the conference/training centre shall be used for no other purpose

9 Windows and doors to be closed during events at the premises

10 No external speakers to be used during events at the premises

11 Requires the prior submission of a parking management strategy

12 Requires the uses to discontinue within one year Case Officer: Debbie Farrington

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Photo(s)

Albion Road 1

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Location Plan

This map is reproduced from the Ordnance Survey Material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Birmingham City Council. Licence No.100021326, 2010

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