Rejected flats plan set for approval

Planning officers at Sheffield Council have recommended that the proposals, for a block of 19 apartments in Loxley New Road, are given the nod when they are considered by councillors next week.

In April 2008 permission to build 21 apartments on the site, which lies in the side garden of 86 Loxley New Road, was refused by councillors on the ground that the block was out of scale with the area and the plans did not provide adequate off-street parking.

Although these reasons were not fully supported by the planning inspector at a subsequent appeal, the inspector did once again refuse planning permission as it was felt the harm to living conditions of neighbours would be "significant".

The inspector said the plans would have an "overbearing, if not overwhelming visual impact" and said rear walkways on the flats would provide "considerable opportunity for overlooking."

An earlier outline planning application in 2003, to build five homes on the site, was withdrawn before being decided and, although an outline application for 10 flats was approved in 2005, this has now lapsed.

A large number of objections have been submitted to Sheffield Council in opposition to the scheme, from neighbours as well as a ward councillor and the Loxley Valley Protection Society.

The society says the current application "does not differ sufficiently from the previous application to warrant passing" and "the reasons the appeal was dismissed still apply".

It also says the development "would still have an overbearing visual impact".

Members of the public have submitted 21 separate letters to the

council, opposing the scheme on numerous grounds, saying that the

height of the building has not changed, the new apartments would

cause "traffic chaos" in an area that already struggles with congestion, the plans would lead to trees being felled, the proposed building is an "eyesore" and there is no need for any more apartments in the area.

Coun Janet Bragg, meanwhile, described the proposed building as a "disaster" and said similar applications for the site had been "refused for good reasons."

Despite this, however, Sheffield Council's planning officers have recommended that the development be approved.

The walkways that the inspector complained about have now been removed, they point out, and the number of apartments has been reduced from 21 to 19.

In a report set to go before next week's planning board meeting, the officers say: "Compared to the scheme dismissed on appeal in 2008, the proposed building has been redesigned and sited further away from the rear garden boundaries.

"It is considered that the increase in separation now proposed between the proposed building and the rear gardens of houses off Harrison Road addresses the overbearing and overwhelming visual impact identified in appeal decision letter.

"The massing, height and appearance of the building is in keeping with the street scene."

The planners add that, subject to putting in non-opening and specially glazed windows on the upper floors of the back of the apartments, there would be "no significant overlooking, overshadowing or adverse overbearing impacts on the living conditions of adjacent and nearby residents."

A final decision will be made on the development at the next meeting of Sheffield Council's west and north planning and highways board, to be held on Tuesday, June 8, at Sheffield Town Hall.