Approval for a New Mixed-Use Neighbourhood Centre Building in Colchester

Architect: Stanley Bragg Architect

We are delighted that Colchester Borough Council has granted planning permission for a new mixed-use residential and commercial building in Chesterwell, to the north of Colchester. This new building will complement the new supermarket that is currently planned and will act as a focal point within this part of the town.

For this project, we acted as the planning consultant, working alongside Stanley Bragg Architects and Mersea Homes.

The Proposed Scheme

The proposed scheme sought four ground-floor units within a flexible Class E, A4 and A5 use, as defined under The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020. It also included a single unit within a flexible Class E use, and four residential units at the first floor level.

The Planning Issue

The principle of a neighbourhood centre at this location was established as part of the outline planning approval for an urban extension at this part of Colchester. However, the Neighbourhood Centre development parameters were limited by various planning conditions and subsequent planning submissions.  

The key constraint of the extant permission was the limit on commercial floorspace. With the exception of a food store, which has already been consented, the limits prevent the total amount of commercial floorspace exceeding 1,000 sqm. The proposed scheme would significantly push the amount of commercial floorspace beyond this limit.

To justify the development, we put forward a robust planning case that highlighted the key material considerations in favour of the scheme and pointed out that the Council could exceed the limitations in this case and still be within the scope of the extant outline planning consent.

The key material considerations in this case included the National Planning Policy Framework which was published following the grant of outline planning consent and the publication of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020. Both source documents justify flexible commercial buildings in sustainable locations where they will support place-making and community development. Colchester Borough Council accepted the justification and supported the proposals.

Design

The architects on this project, Stanley Bragg Architects, put forward a landmark design for the proposed building that would also act as a gateway building for the facilities beyond.

The Council generally supported this approach, although there was resistance on some aspects of the proposal, such as the scale, which we felt were not fully justified in planning or design terms. Some of the comments from council appeared to seek changes that did not improve the design, but forced a change for the sake of it. Working with the architects, we put forward a robust case to defend the scheme and we introduced tweaks that the project team would accept and we highlighted the suggested changes that we believed to be unreasonable that we would not accept.

The neighbourhood centre location meant that there were also a number of specific design challenges to overcome, particularly with regard to meeting the Council’s standards, for example, private amenity space and parking. We worked and advised the project team to ensure that these standards were achieved or could be justified.  

We worked well with the Council’s planning officer to resolve any planning issues and the application was approved.

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