Comment

Representation ID: 22556

Received: 06/10/2021

Respondent: DNA Investment Holdings Ltd

Agent: Lavata Group Ltd

These representations have been prepared and submitted by Lavata Group Limited, on behalf of DNA Investment Holdings Ltd (the “Client”) with regards to their development aspirations for the redevelopment of Mahal Buildings and the adjacent land on New Street in Walsall (the “Site”) to provide a new high quality residential development. They welcome the opportunity to make representations on the Draft Black Country Plan (DBCP), conscious that they are seeking to deliver residential development in a key location within the Town Centre of Walsall, one of the four Strategic Centres in the Black Country Plan.

We have undertaken a round of pre-application discussions with Walsall LPA, with regards to the development, and are in the process of receiving the formal written advice and then preparing a detailed planning application.

The Site as far as we are aware, has not been submitted as part of the Call for Sites consultation which was undertaken, however these representations have been submitted to ensure that our aspirations for development in the Town Centre are made clear and where necessary the DBCP amended to ensure that it is an appropriate document to guide the development of the Black Country, as this will be the main Development Plan Document in order to determine planning applications.

The Site is not an allocated employment site and is in a state of disrepair. The surrounding environment is a mix of community services, residential and commercial, with different types of architectural design and heights.

The Site
The application Site comprises interlinked light industrial brick buildings which occupy a 0.412-hectare irregular plot to the south side of New Street at its culmination near Dudley Street. The Site occupies a raised hillside position, and the buildings follow the contours of the site, single storey to the east, two storey to the north-west and three stories to the south-west.

Immediately to the north of the Site is the Church Hill Conservation Area which dissects the northeast end of the site fronting the current buildings. Immediately opposite the site is a single private house previously the gardener’s house for the Geoffrey Jellicoe designed walled St Matthew’s Memorial Gardens that opened in 1952, within the conversion taking place in 1998. Beyond the garden is Grade II* Listed St Matthew’s Church and its grounds which occupy Church Hill and is on axis with the High Street.

To the east of the Site is a single storey building which is occupied by a children’s nursery which has its external play area on the New Street corner. Behind the nursery and the southeast corner of the Site, is Fieldgate Trading Estate. To the south are large industrial buildings set at a lower level of Bath Street. Bath House lies at a lower level to the west. This three storey building fronts Bath Street and has recently been converted under permitted development rights from office use to residential. To the north-west lies a steep tree lined bank and pedestrian access down to the Town Centre.

The Site has approximately 90% building coverage, there is a small overgrown area bordering Bath House with a large mature tree on the southern boundary and a carpark area to the northwest which lies within the Conservation Area. The Site itself is identified in the Walsall Town Centre Area Action Plan (AAP) (reference TC27) and has been considered for employment land release and with an estimated provision of 4,047sqm floorspace (Town Centre uses other than A1 or housing
development subject to being of a high-quality design). However as this is classed as a secondary site, its release was seen as a longer-term proposition. It should be noted that the AAP was actually started in 2013 and was adopted after examination in 2019, and the AAP replaced Appendix 2 of the of the BCCS (SC3); the AAP’s validity is to the end of the BCCS Plan Period which is 2030. In terms of the delivery of the Site, we are now halfway thought the BCCS Plan period, so the Site is no longer ‘secondary’ as there is now less than 9 years to deliver the site as part of the adopted AAP and BCCS.
Our client is seeking to re-use a brownfield site/previously developed land (PDL) in a sustainable urban location for a residential development of up to/circa 150 units (subject to further detailed capacity work and the submission of a detailed planning application). The principle of residential development in this location has already been approved and accepted by the approval of the previous outline planning permission in 2010 (reference 10/0729/OL) which did pre-date the adopted BCCS, the NPPF and AAP. It should be noted that they physical environment around the site has not changed since this application was approved.
These representations have been with regards to the ability for the site to deliver residential development in the Town Centre as well as the need for polices to be flexible enough to be able to be applied to individual site circumstances and constraints.