Backing for mixed-use Bath plans

Plans for a mixed-use scheme, including more than 120 student flats, on the site of a Bath commercial development dating back to 1900 have been backed ahead of a planning committee meeting next week (31 May 2017).Turley, on behalf of CEPF II (Bath), lodged plans with Bath and North East Somerset Council for the development of Wansdyke Business Centre at Oldfield Park.The Centurion Court scheme proposes the demolition of the majority of the existing structures, with the partial retention of the façade fronting and adjoining Monksdale Road.In its place, a three-storey building would be constructed, providing 126 student bedrooms on the first and second floors.The scheme also includes 12,000 sq ft of light industry and storage space beneath the flats, a café, co-working space and a gym.Wansdyke Business Centre is a former factory built for Griffin Engineering company in 1900 and later used by Clarks Shoes for the construction of machinery.The factory was partially redeveloped after sustaining bomb damage during World War II and subsequently subdivided into a number of individual business units.Plans for a mixed-use development featuring 178 student flats on the site were previously refused planning consent by the council in 2016. An appeal against this decision has also been lodged.This scheme was said to be a “significant and incongruous intervention into a suburban townscape” and would cause harm to the setting of the grade II*-listed Church of Our Lady and St Alphege.The mass and scale of the new building has been reduced under the new application.The council has received 408 objections to the new application, with concerns including the proposed student accommodation use as well as the height and design of the new building.The application will go before Bath and North East Somerset Council’s development management committee on 31 May 2017. Despite the objections, a planning officer’s report prepared for the meeting has been issued with a “delegate to permit” recommendation.It said the proposals are acceptable subject to conditions and planning obligations, including a section 106 agreement, and “accordingly it is recommended that the application be permitted”.It added that the principle of redeveloping the site with student accommodation and new employment space is acceptable.