180 Brockley Road SE4 PDF 306 KB - Council meetings

of local shops to meet day to day needs. It is considered that the independentnature of these uses makes a positive contribution to the character andappearance of the conservation area and adds to the distinctiveness of BrockleyCross.6.9 Spatial Policy 4 Local Hubs of the Core Strategy states that individual Local Hubswill be managed to enhance their identity and distinctiveness in order to achievean overall upgrade in urban quality and amenity.6.10 Whilst there have been a low level of objections to the proposal, concern has beenraised that the ground floor commercial space should be let to small businesses toadd to the diversity and unique character of the area and create a thriving hub andshopping/leisure destination. As such, a condition is recommended requiring themaximum size of a single A1 unit to be 190sqm. This would ensure that the largecommercial space fronting Foxberry Road is divided into at least two units to addto the diversity provided by the centre, promote small businesses and retain theunique character of the area.6.11 Local residents have raised concerns about the commercial floorspace beingoccupied by a large supermarket. It is not the role of the planning system to seekto prevent competition between different operators (Para 46, NPPF), but it isconsidered reasonable to limit the size of the individual units to one that isappropriate to the scale of the local shopping parade. This is supported byParagraph 4.48 of the London Plan which states that while provision to meet needfor convenience goods can be made in larger centres, smaller centres, especiallydistrict, neighbourhood and more local centres, are particularly suitable foraccommodating growth in convenience floorspace, “providing the new shops areof appropriate scale”.Design and the Historic Environment6.12 The NPPF asserts that good design is indivisible from good planning and thatdesign is a key aspect of sustainable development. Core Strategy Policy 15 statesthat the Council will apply policy guidance to ensure highest quality design and theprotection or enhancement of the historic and natural environment which issustainable, accessible to all, optimises the potential of sites and is sensitive to thelocal context. Core Strategy Policy 16 requires that the value and significance ofthe borough’s heritage assets and their settings are enhanced and conserved.6.13 The application site is situated in the Brockley Conservation Area. The BrockleyConservation Area Appraisal identifies elements that are damaging to thecharacter of the conservation area and states that a number of commercialgarages exist (including those on Brockley Road) which detract from the area’scharacter by their untidy, poor quality buildings as well as their noise and dirtcreation. It is therefore considered that the loss of the MOT and van hire usefrom this sensitive area, as well as the demolition of the existing single storeybuildings and canopy will have a positive impact on the character and appearanceof the conservation area provided that the quality of the replacement buildings aresufficiently high.6.14 The proposed design seeks to redefine the hard edges of the island site with onetofour-storey blocks grouped around a central courtyard. The blocks would forma continuation to the built form of the existing Coulgate Street cottages and wouldrespond to their variation in scale which serves to break down the massing of the