Agenda item

(Director of Neighbourhoods) To consider the attached report AMED-011-2016/17.

The Director of Neighbourhoods presented a report to the Cabinet Committee and updated Members on further developments to the report since it had been published.

(1)        Epping Forest Shopping Park

There was a separate detailed report on the progress of the Epping Forest Shopping Park at Agenda Item 8.

(2)        Oakwood Hill Depot

The Depot was now completed and fully operational. The mezzanine floor had been extended at a notional cost to provide additional office accommodation.

(3)        Pyrles Lane Nursery

Planning permission had been granted for a residential development on the site of Pyrles Lane Nursery. External advisors had produced a report, the outcome of this report and a proposed disposal strategy would be reported to Cabinet on 9 March 2017.

(4)        St John’s Road

After a protracted period of negotiation the Council have completed on the purchase of the former junior school from Essex County Council. There had been some anti-social behaviour on the site but the Council have now secured security presence on and the site was now secure. The next stage was to work with Frontier Estates and Epping Town Council moving towards the submission of their full planning application and if this was successful a tri-party agreement would take place between Epping Forest District Council, Epping Town Council and Frontier Estates and would develop the site.

Councillor J M Whitehouse stated that it had previously been reported that the consultation would take place as part of the planning process. He advised that as  landowner and the planning authority the Council should be ensuring and encouraging pre-application engagement and not just the statutory 21 day letters going out when a planning application was submitted. It was easier to deal with queries in the pre-application stage rather than when the planning application was submitted.

The Chairman advised that Officers would raise that issue with Frontier Estates when they had their next meeting.

(5)        Lindsay House

Essex County Council advised that they no longer wished to obtain Lindsay House for use as accommodation to support vulnerable adults. A report would go to Cabinet on the 2 February 2017 with regard to marketing the property for disposal as either a single dwelling, subject to the restrictive covenants, or conversion to flats.

(6)        North Weald Airfield

A discussion had taken place earlier in the meeting regarding North Weald Airfield.

(7)        Site of former Winston Churchill Public House

Members and Officers were invited by Higgins for a site visit. The views from the top of the building were spectacular with views across East London. The flats would be completed ready for occupation in September 2017. The Council’s main interest were the retail units on the ground floor which we had the opportunity to view. The Council have now appointed agents and were receiving offers for those units.

Councillor Mohindra stated that the site visit was a worthwhile exercise but that the top floor was for office space and not living accommodation and Planning Enforcement Officers should keep stringent checks that this was the case.

(8)        Ongar Academy

The school was now under construction and was due to open in September 2017.

(9)        Townmead Depot

A considerable amount of time and energy had been spent on investigating this site for alternative use. Unfortunately due to the high flood risk this site could not be progressed for any kind of residential development. Discussions were underway with Waltham Abbey Town Council who were the co-occupiers, as to an alternative use for this site.

(10)      Hillhouse Leisure / Community Hub

Outline planning permission was granted to all three elements of this site by the District Development Management Committee in November 2016. A S106 agreement was being entered into to compensate for the loss of the playing fields and that S106 agreement was due to be signed shortly. We have met with our newly appointed Leisure Management Contractor, Places for People and will submit a full planning application in the next 6-8 weeks.

Resolved:

To note progress on the Council’s Asset Management and Development Projects.

Reasons for Decision:

To comply with the Cabinet Committee’s previous request to monitor the development of the Council’s Property Assets on a regular basis.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

None, as monitoring report was for information not action.