This meeting will be asked to make decisions on three planning applications for 291-299 Borough High Street, the pavement between 285 Rye Lane and 289 Peckham Rye and 12 Dulwich Village.

291 - 299 Borough High Street

The most significant item on the agenda is the proposed change of use of the ground and upper floors of 291-299 Borough High Street. The report pack contains a planning application for a full planning application to convert the existing ground floor retail unit and upper floor offices (Use Class E¹) into a 47-bedroom hotel (Use Class C1²) with a ground floor cafe open to the public. The existing roof terrace would become a guest amenity. The report also proposes a payment of £35,733 from the developer to mitigation against the adverse impacts of the development through contributions.

The report pack contains twelve objections from members of the public relating to the application. The report says, Where appropriate, responses to the material planning issues raised are addressed within the assessment section of this report.

The report pack says the proposed development, would strategically comply with the aims and objectives of the CAZ[^4] and Opportunity Area[^5], by providing important visitor accommodation in the District Town Centre. It notes that the application site is in the Bankside, Borough and London Bridge Opportunity Area, identified [...] as suitable for delivering such visitor infrastructure.

The report says that the cafe would provide an active area, that provides an alternative use to the general public which would not harm the vitality and viability of the centre and, comply and satisfy the policy requirements and therefore considered acceptable.

The application includes a marketing statement which details the marketing undertaken by BBG Real Estate Advisors to find a tenant for the existing offices at 291-299 Borough High Street. The statement describes the property as having been advertised since late summer/early autumn of 2022, and details the marketing activities undertaken, including online listings on various property websites.

The report states that the application includes a letter of statement from the real estate agent Savills (dated: 13 June 2024 by Richard Dawes) which says that C1 Hotel use in this location would be highly desirable to operators from a range of domestic and international hotel groups, due to the limited hotel development opportunity in the immediate area. The letter says that Savills would be entering into detailed discussions with a shortlist of these operators and will agree terms with a preferred partner should planning permission be granted.

The report details that, The applicant currently proposes that deliveries to the site will only be undertaken on Borough High Street outside of the hours when loading is restricted, but adds that Any vehicles not following the on-street loading restrictions will be subject to enforcement. It adds that deliveries which cannot be easily scheduled or arranged can be undertaken via Trinity Place to the south of the site utilizing existing kerbside restrictions.

The report describes a number of conditions attached to the proposed approval of the application. These include the submission of a detailed Construction Environment Management Plan (CEMP), details of the use hours of the roof terrace, details of privacy screening/obscure glazing to all rear elevation windows, details of balustrading, landscaping (planter) / privacy screening details for roof terrace, details of the facilities for the secure and covered storage of cycles, an Operational Management Plan for the roof terrace, a Service Management Plan and details of the arrangements for the storing commercial refuse. The report pack also includes a number of standard conditions covering the requirement for development to be begun within three years of the date of permission, compliance with the submitted plans, and the restriction on the installation of roof plant.

The report recommends that the decisions made on the planning applications be subject to the conditions and/or made for the reasons set out in the attached reports unless otherwise stated.

Pavement between 285 Rye Lane and 289 Peckham Rye

The report pack says this application is for a full planning application to erect a temporary food kiosk (Use Class E(a) - Display or retail sale of goods, other than hot food) on a traffic island at the north end of Peckham Rye for a period of three years. The applicant is Mr R Kembora.

The application is listed in the report pack as a departure application, because the proposed site is on Metropolitan Open Land³ (MOL) and the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 states that the construction of new buildings on MOL is inappropriate development.

The report says, The proposed development is contrary to the development plan, being the erection of a new food kiosk that is located on Metropolitan Open Land (MOL), and not complying with policies relating to acceptable development on MOL. However it notes that, the small scale, temporary nature of the proposal and the proposed design and positioning of the new kiosk would have little impact on the setting, accessibility, and quality of the MOL, and would not affect its openness or detract from its character.

The report states that, The initial description of development sought permission for a permanent food kiosk. This was amended during the application to a temporary permission for a period of 3 years. This amendment was following Case Officer advice that a permanent structure would unlikely be considered acceptable.

The report pack contains 17 objections and one comment in support from members of the public. It says, The material planning considerations have been addressed throughout the officer report below.

The application was further amended to move the proposed kiosk an additional 0.9m north from the existing planter / tree and display the existing zebra crossings on the site plan, following comments from the Urban Forester.

The report pack says the proposed development, would be for Class E(a) the 'Display or retail sale of goods, other than hot food'. The report describes this as being consistent with policies which support shops, professional services and restaurants, in the Peckham Major Town Centre, where uses such as shops, professional services and restaurants are supported.

It says that the proposed development is also consistent with policies covering the Hot food takeaway primary school exclusion zone in which the site is located, because the proposed use class prohibits the development of new hot food takeaways. The report recommends the addition of a condition to any approval of the application to ensure that this is complied with.

The report states that the proposed kiosk would be 4.2m north of an existing planter and tree following its relocation. This means it maintains a good separation distance away from the tree canopy to avoid future constraints and so the proposal would be acceptable in respect of impact on trees.

The report notes that the proposed development is in the Peckham Rye Common and Piermont Green Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC). It adds that the proposed kiosk would be located to the northern edge of the traffic island, situated entirely on hardstanding and would be of a temporary nature with no permanent foundations. As such it is not considered that the proposal would cause any considerable damage to the SINC.

The report says that because the application site is located entirely on hardstanding, the proposal, is considered to be exempt from the requirement to deliver mandatory BNG[^7].

The report details that, The application notes that the proposed kiosk would operate between the following hours: 12:00pm – 22:00pm on all days. It recommends the addition of a condition to any approval of the application, to ensure compliance with these operating hours.

The report also recommends conditions for a bat lighting plan and to ensure that the materials used during construction are consistent with those proposed in the application.

The report recommends that the development which is located on Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) be granted temporary permission subject to conditions.

12 Dulwich Village

The report pack says this application is for a full planning application to erect netting approximately 4m from the fence line with 26 and 28 Dulwich Village measuring 3 m high and 40 m wide for sports purposes at Griffin Sports Club. The applicant is Mr Stephen Grey of the London Youth Sports Trust.

The report says that the proposal is an ancillary facility that will enable continued use of the football pitches and is considered compliant with Policy P57 of the Southwark Plan (2022), the NPPF (2023) and the London Plan (2021).

The report states that, Planning permission 22/AP/2598 was granted on the 14 December 2022 for the Replacement of existing bowling green area with construction of cricket cage facility.

The report says that the proposed development, will only take up 20sqm out of the total 1850sqm of the application site. This means that it equates to 1.08% as a percentage of the overall wider MOL.

It adds that the proposal would also be supported by policy P45 (Healthy Developments) of the Southwark Plan (2022), because the netting will increase opportunities for healthy sports activities outdoors and promote an active lifestyle for users.

The report notes that the proposal will mainly prevent sports balls from entering neighbouring gardens, thus protecting their amenity.

The report states that The modest size and scale of the proposed posts and net would be considered a discreet addition to the sports pitches at Griffin Sports Club. It describes the proposed materials as including steel posts, a top rail and netting made from black 2.5mm thick high-density polyethylene (HDPE) twine with 120mm spaced knotted mesh.

The report notes that the site is near the Dulwich Village Conservation Area. It says that The location and positioning of houses, due to screening along Dulwich Village, ensures that the installation of the netting would not affect the character and appearance of the Dulwich Village conservation area. The netting is considered to be an acceptable construction in design terms, ensuring no harm to the wider heritage of the area.

The report describes that the proposed development would be 4m from the fence line of properties on Dulwich Village, and The large existing gardens serving these neighbouring properties provide a distance between the netting and the rear of the dwellinghouses of 27m. It adds that this mitigates against any issues of sense of enclosure or overbearing to these neighbours. It is also considered that the development does not raise any issues of loss of light to any property or any privacy issues.

The report notes that, The application does not propose the loss of any trees. However it recommends the addition of a condition to require the submission of an arboricultural method statement prior to works commencing.

The report says that The site is located within Flood Zone 1 and therefore a Flood Risk assessment or sequential test is not required.

It states that This is not a CIL liable development.

The report recommends the addition of a condition requiring that The materials to be used in the implementation of this permission shall not be otherwise than as described and specified in the application and on the drawings hereby approved unless the prior written consent of the local planning authority has been obtained for any proposed change or variation.

It also recommends an informative explaining that the local planning authority's prior written consent is required for works to trees that are statutorily protected by a Tree Preservation Order or located in a conservation area.

The report recommends that planning permission be granted, subject to conditions.