Second Tiverton House Public Meeting

There was a second meeting for local residents to discuss the latest situation with Tiverton House on Monday at St Thomas's Hall. All four ward councillors were present, as was the owner of Tiverton House. I was also present to learn from the experiences of the many residents who were present. A representative of the owner of the Perne Road shops site was also present.

Tiverton House
As Chris has explained in an earlier post, the current situation is that a planning application has been submitted for minor works (splitting the warden's house into two flats and adding extra cycle parking) but the bulk of the work in turning the building from a residential home to student accommodation, that has been proceeding apace, is not being submitted as a planning application.

We managed to tease out little by little some morsels of knowledge about the owner's plans so we now know more reliably that:

• The owner has a verbal agreement with Anglia Ruskin University such that they will nominate student tenants to rent all of the flats in the block. The owner stressed that the university's policy of no student parking would apply.
• There will be 96 bedrooms.
• 37 rooms are being built on the second floor, i.e. in the roof, despite these not being visible on the plans accompanying the application.
  

The council's planning officer has suggested that the owner obtain a certificate of lawful use in order to satisfy residents' concerns about his development, but this would not be possible within the time before students are expected to take up residence in the new building.

Chris Howell suggested a petition for a development control forum so that residents might be able to have a chance to challenge the overall intensification of the whole site in advance of the planning application being decided.

The deadline for responding to the planning application is tomorrow, Thursday 6th August.

Perne Road/Radegund Road Shops
The owners of the shop buildings on the roundabout between Perne Road and Radegund Road were represented at the start of the meeting and showed a drawing of the complete redevelopment that they would like to do of the site. It is a larger and taller building and would mean the loss of the current style of building at the site.

The overwhelming concern is that action is needed as soon as possible because the site is currently a mess and attracts antisocial behaviour, but there is also some affection for the style and profile of the existing buildings and some concern about the extent of the proposed replacement.

The leaseholder of one of the shops does not want to move and has rejected a compensation package that was offered if they could move. There is another offer on the table and the owners of the site will know whether they can proceed with full redevelopment or will just refurbish at the end of September.

Perne Road Shops

Elections aside, ward work continues as normal.

I have been chasing progress on the redevelopment of the Perne Road shops site. The planners have finally got back to the applicants with some informal advice, and essentially given their proposals for 19 flats on the site the thumbs down. The concerns raised include lack of car and cycle parking, cramped flats, overlooking of neighbours. It is only informal advice, but does suggest that the planners view the developers first proposal as an overdevelopment of the site.

I am pressing for them to get some amended plans together ASAP...

Perne Road Shops

The Perne Road shops saga is extremely frustrating for local Councillors - the only powers that the Council has (i.e. the Council policy of compulsory purchase to bring empty property back into use) are draconian and not be be used lightly (particularly if the owner appears to be co-operating), but progress towards bringing a scheme in front of planners seems to have been dragging on for ever.

About three months ago we wrote to nearby residents about plans for the Perne Road shops that had just been presented to us by the owners and their agent/architect to bring the flats back into use - with planning discussions apparantly imminent. At the time we didn't give too much detail, as it did all seem too good to be true, and so it has been that months have passed - we have twice chased up the planning department and the owners about progress in this time. It does now however sound like they are ready to move forward with one or other plan for the site, after progress in commercial discussions.

We aren't holding our breath, and if things aren't demonstrably moving soon, it may be time to remind the owners that the Council does have powers to take action, even if we are a long way from that stage at the moment.

Perne Road Shops again

I met with the agent responsible for the Perne Rd Roundabout shops yesterday. They are now definitely aware of my concerns for the site, and the need for urgent action.

Subject to successful negotiation with the relevant parties, they are hoping to put in a planning application in 3-4 months time for a 'refurbishment with extension' project that will result in shops with flats above.

I am hopefully that the agents will be speaking to the planners and ideally local residents in advance of the planning application submission to check what they are proposing is likely to be acceptable, so there aren't any further delays to the project, but this will clearly depend on the details of the final application submitted. In any case I'll be monitoring progress to check there aren't any unnecessary delays...

Perne Road Roundabout Shops

I've finally managed to track down the new owner and agent for the shops/flats at Perne Road roundabout (the City Council didn't know who owned the building now!), and have let the agent know my concerns, namely:

- not wanting to lose local shops in any redevelopment,

- the run-down look to the site at the moment,

- security concerns about empty buildings (even if this aspect is better than it was),

- and the need to bring the flats back into use as soon as possible.

Hopefully the developers will agree to my request for a meeting which should clarify their hopes and aspirations for the site, and I can impress on them the urgency of the situation.