The Planning Applications Committee will be considering two applications at this meeting, one for a large mixed-use co-living scheme with industrial units in Loughborough Junction, and the other for an application to vary the conditions on a consented scheme for a residential-led, mixed-use development on Wyvil Road in Oval.

1, 3-11 Wellfit Street, 7-9 Hinton Road & Units 1-4 Hardess Street

Hardess Yard Limited has applied to demolish all the buildings on their site in Loughborough Junction, and build a new mixed-use development with co-living and light industrial units.

The report pack describes a phased development. A new building containing 320 co-living units would be built first. The co-living element would comprise a range of different sized units between 18sqm and 33sqm, and include a variety of internal communal facilities such as lounges, a cafe, co-working spaces, a gym, yoga studio, library and meeting rooms, as well as laundry facilities. The co-living building would have 283sqm of communal amenity space on the eleventh floor and 100sqm on the ground floor. The report pack says that some of the facilities would be accessible to local charities and organizations through a community investment programme, and that this would be managed by the building's management company, Verv Life.

The application also includes plans for a second new building for light industrial use, with 10 units ranging from 59sqm to 143sqm. The light industrial element would have its own dedicated service yard, accessed from Hardess Street.

The report pack says the applicant, Hardess Yard Limited, intends to re-provide the existing 1,400sqm of light industrial floorspace that currently exists on the site, and that the new units will be targeted towards makerspaces and creative businesses.

1,483 nearby properties were consulted on the application, generating a lot of public interest. 13 responses were in support, but there were 110 objections and 1 comment neither objecting nor supporting. Many of the objections focused on the loss of industrial floorspace and its potential impact on the tenants in the arches that adjoin the site. A petition against the development has also been received from the Local Christian Assembly, whose church building at 7 Wanless Road adjoins the site. The Local Christian Assembly are concerned about the potential impact on the privacy of their church from the windows proposed for the new light industrial building. The Council's viability consultants, Avison Young, concluded that the application was not financially viable with the policy-compliant level of 35% affordable housing and that the maximum reasonable payment in lieu of affordable housing was £9.21 million. This is equivalent to an on-site provision of 13.4%.

The report pack says that the Council's Planning Policy team are supportive of the application, provided the new industrial space is restricted to use class E(g)(iii) and that it is made available to the market before the co-living units are occupied. They are also satisfied that the community use of the co-living facilities would not be so extensive as to make it a mixed use, rather than co-living, development, provided it is controlled through the final management plan. They are also satisfied that the cafe proposed for the development would not be accessible to the public.

12-20 Wyvil Road

London Square Developments Limited has applied to vary a number of conditions on their previously consented application to build a mixed-use development at 12-20 Wyvil Road. The original application, 16/05114/FUL, was granted on 6 September 2017, and was amended by 24/01072/NMC on 14 May 2024.

This variation seeks to substantially change the nature of that scheme by increasing the number of homes and decreasing the amount of commercial floorspace, providing more affordable housing and adding a second staircase to all of the buildings for compliance with current fire safety regulations.

The applicant originally sought to remove the commercial floorspace from the consented scheme altogether, but the Council’s planning officers successfully negotiated a compromise, and the report pack describes an amended proposal with 441sqm of affordable workspace, to be let at a 50% discount to market rents for a period of 15 years.

The report pack says the development would provide a total of 347 homes, including 46 affordable units. All of the affordable units will be for social rent, which is welcomed by the planning officers.

The additional homes were achieved by reducing ceiling heights, increasing the height of two of the shoulder blocks, and removing the commercial floorspace from the consented scheme. The report pack says that the development would not be able to provide the amount of communal amenity space required by policy, and would fall 660.5sqm short. However, it says that planning officers are satisfied that the development would still provide adequate amenity space because some of the flats are larger than the minimum standards require and because the development would include some shared indoor communal areas. The applicant will also pay £43,362 towards play space and £106,920 towards open space to offset the impact of the development on the local area. TfL has also asked the applicant to produce an Active Travel Zone assessment, and the applicant will pay £133,745 towards a new cycle hire docking station and £8,854 towards Legible London signage.

The report pack says the Council’s planning officers have no concerns about the proposed scheme and are recommending that it be approved.