Redevelopment for retirement living accommodation for older people comprising 83 retirement apartments including communal facilities, access, car parking and landscaping

1. The proposed development, by virtue of its form, scale, height and design is considered to be excessive, unnecessarily large and of a generally poor quality and ill thought through design which is wholly inappropriate to the site’s context, the pattern of development and character of the surrounding area, to the detriment of the street scenes of Toynbee Road, Romsey Close and Toynbee Close, together with the visual amenity and character of the locality. As such, the proposal is considered to be contrary to the design requirements of Policy DM1 and E4 of the adopted Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036, the Council’s ‘Quality Places’ and ‘Accommodation for Older People and Those in Need of Care’ Supplementary Planning Documents, the National Design Guide and the National Planning Policy Framework.
2. The proposed development, by virtue of the number of units proposed and its inability to provide adequate levels of amenity space, on-site parking and tree planting in a manner which does not harm the amenity of the locality, existing neighbours and future occupiers of the development, demonstrates an unacceptable overdevelopment of the site. As such, the proposal is considered to be contrary to Policy DM1 and E4 of the adopted Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036, the Council’s ‘Quality Places’ and ‘Accommodation for Older People and Those in Need of Care’ Supplementary Planning Documents, the National Design Guide and the National Planning Policy Framework.
3. The proposed development, by virtue of its height, scale, design, orientation and proximity to No.1 Romsey Close, would result in a visually dominating development, to the detriment of the visual amenity and outlook of occupiers of No.1, together with an adverse level of overlooking, resulting in an unacceptable loss of privacy. As such, the application is considered to be contrary to Policy DM1 of the adopted Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036 and the Council’s ‘Quality Places’ Supplementary Planning Document.
4. The proposed development, by virtue of its poorly considered internal and external layout, together with the quantum of development proposed, would result in a poor quality living environment for future occupiers of the development, to the detriment of their amenity. As such, the application is considered to be contrary to Policy DM1 of the adopted Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036 and the Council’s ‘Quality Places’ and ‘Accommodation for Older People and Those in Need of Care’ Supplementary Planning Documents.
5. The proposed development does not provide sufficient on-site parking to serve the development, likely resulting in overspill parking into surrounding streets, to the detriment of the amenity of neighbouring residents, and the wider area. As such, the application is considered to be contrary to Policies DM1 and DM14 of the adopted Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036 and the Council’s ‘Residential Parking Standards’ Supplementary Planning Document.
6. The proposed development does not and cannot, due to the quantum of development proposed and minimal remaining undeveloped space, provide adequate replacement and new tree planting to meet the requirements of the Council’s ‘Trees and Development’ Supplementary Planning Document. As such, the application is considered to be contrary to Policy DM1 of the adopted Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036 and the above Supplementary Planning Document.
7. It has not been demonstrated that the proposed development can provide an adequate level of biodiversity net gain or habitat improvements, as required by Policy DM11 of the adopted Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036.
8. The design of the site accesses onto Toynbee Road and Romsey Close does not provide an appropriate level of vehicle and pedestrian segregation and is laid out in such a way that it could cause traffic to back up on Toynbee Road, to the detriment of the amenity of future occupiers of the development and that of those who use Toynbee Road. As such, that proposed is considered to be contrary to the requirements of Policy DM1 of the adopted Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036 and the Council’s ‘Quality Places’ Supplementary Planning Document.
9. The application fails to provide provision for on or off-site affordable housing, as required by Policy DM28 of the adopted Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036 and the Council’s ‘Affordable Housing’ Supplementary Planning Document.
10. The application fails to provide provision for developer contributions for the off-site provision of facilities and infrastructure (including: Community Infrastructure; Health Provision; Public Open Space and Play Provision; Public Art; and Sustainable Transport Measures) made necessary by the development or to mitigate against any increased need or pressure on existing facilities. As such the application is contrary to Policies DM13, DM33 and DM38 of the adopted Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036 and the Council’s ‘Planning Obligations’ Supplementary Planning Document.
11. The application fails to provide for the required mitigation to offset the impacts of the development upon The Solent Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area and Ramsar Sites from nutrient loading generated by the population increase resulting from the development. The application is therefore contrary to Policies S1, DM10 and DM11 of the Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036, provision within the National Planning Policy Framework and The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.
12. The application fails to provide for the required mitigation to offset the impacts of the development on the New Forest National Park from recreational disturbance generated by the population increase resulting from the development. The application is therefore contrary to Policies S1 and DM11 of the Eastleigh Borough Local Plan 2016-2036, provision within the National Planning Policy Framework and The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.
13. Note to Applicant: The application was refused following the assessment of the following plans: 22-SW051-PLOC, 22-SW051-P01, 22-SW051-P02, 22-SW051-P03, 22-SW051-P04, 22-SW051-P05, 22-SW051-P06, 22-SW051-P07, 22-SW051-P08, 22-SW051-P09, 22-SW051-P10, 22-SW051-P11, SU 02, 22045-7 & JBA 22-410-SK02 Rev A. In accordance with paragraph 38 of the National Planning Policy Framework (February 2019), Eastleigh Borough Council takes a positive approach to the handling of development proposals so as to achieve, whenever possible, a positive outcome and to ensure all proposals are dealt with in a timely manner.

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