Cambridge Planning Committee *refuses* permission to demolish Hobson Street Cinema for new offices

Posted byCambridge Town OwlPosted inUncategorized

The developer either has to appeal or come back with new plans – but why did he sit on the site for so long, and not make greater efforts to preserve it?

This relates to this earlier blogpost. I wasn’t at The Guildhall earlier today, but you can watch the video in full here.

Additionally:

The recommendation to refuse

The text is taken from the agenda (sixth bullet point down), p45 para 9.0 onwards.

  1. “By virtue of the excessive scale, height and mass of the proposed development, the proposal would result in an incongruous and inappropriate form of development which would not be well integrated within the existing skyline of Cambridge and would therefore result in significant visual harm upon the local area. As such, the proposal is not in accordance with Policy 40(a), Policy 60(a) and (c) and policies 55, 56 and 57 of the Cambridge Local Plan 2018 and would fail to satisfy the requirements of paras. 131-141 of the NPPF.
  2. “The proposal would result in the substantial demolition of existing buildings which contribute to the historic context of development within this part of the Conservation Area. The proposal would remove all historic reference and individual plot definition of these buildings and replace them with a development of significant mass and non contextual form which would cause a high level of less than substantial harm upon the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. The development is not considered to present significant public benefits which would outweigh the level of harm identified, and therefore the proposal is not in accordance with paragraphs 203, 205, 206, 208, and 213 of the NPPF, Policy 60 (b), Policy 61 and Policy 10(c) of the Cambridge Local Plan 2018 and Section 72 of the Listed Building and Conservation Area Act 1990. in accordance with Policy 40(a), Policy 60(a) and (c) and policies 55, 56 and 57 of the Cambridge Local Plan 2018 and would fail to satisfy the requirements of paras. 131-141 of the NPPF.
  3. The proposal would result in the substantial demolition of existing buildings which contribute to the historic context of development within this part of the Conservation Area. The proposal would remove all historic reference and individual plot definition of these buildings and replace them with a development of significant mass and non contextual form which would cause a high level of less than substantial harm upon the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. The development is not considered to present significant public benefits which would outweigh the level of harm identified, and therefore the proposal is not in accordance with paragraphs 203, 205, 206, 208, and 213 of the NPPF, Policy 60 (b), Policy 61 and Policy 10(c) of the Cambridge Local Plan 2018 and Section 72 of the Listed Building and Conservation Area Act 1990.
  4. The demolition proposed would result in the total loss of No. 21 Hobson Street (former cinema building). This building is a designated Building of Local Interest (BLI) and positively contributes to the character and appearance of the Conservation Area due to its iconic and rare architectural style within this part of Cambridge. The application suggests there is no viable use for the building however the marketing information provided is deficient in supporting this conclusion and relies on the evidence of deterioration and poor condition to justify its loss. These are not valid reasons to demolish this significant building and is not outweighed by the public benefits presented. The loss of this building and associated rare architectural references is therefore not justified and the proposal would result in a high level of less than substantial harm to heritage assets. As such, the proposal is not in accordance with paragraphs 202, 205, 206, 208, 209 and 213 of the NPPF, policies 61 and 62 of the Cambridge Local Plan 2018, and Section 72 of the Listed Buildings and Conservation Act 1990.
  5. The site is located within the setting of a number of heritage assets.The application lacks evidence within the submitted documents to justify the significant scale and non contextual form of development proposed to demonstrate that significant harm upon the settings of surrounding heritage assets would not arise. The proposal is therefore not in accordance with paragraphs 200, 201, 203, 205, 206, 208 and 213 of the NPPF, Policy 60(b) and Policy 61 of the Cambridge Local Plan 2018 and Section 66 of the Listed Buildings and Conservation Act 1990. The application lacks sufficient information to demonstrate that the proposed development would not result in flooding within the site and surrounding areas, and is therefore not in accordance with Policy 32 of the Cambridge Local Plan 2018 and NPPF para. 173.”

It remains to be seen whether this goes to appeal or whether the developer will bring back a better application.

If you are interested in the longer term future of Cambridge, and on what happens at the local democracy meetings where decisions are made, feel free to:

In the meantime, sign up to The Cambridge Room which opens next month – where we can start talking more meaningfully about reuse of older buildings. (Which reminds me – the old Cambridge Assessment Building that I think would make a great site for a concert hall, can that be turned into a community ‘meanwhile’ use building?)