Transport Note for the Proposed Change of Use And Conversion of School Boarding House To 8 Apartments.

Berrys provided a Transport Note to support the proposed change of use and conversion of a former school boarding house into 8no. residential apartments. Clovelly House is a large Victorian property which has accommodated a range of residential ‘C’ class uses over the years, the most recent having been as boarding accommodation for a school of dance and performing arts. The building was no longer in use and needed renovation and, as such, we assisted our client to secure permission for an alternative residential use for the building.

How We Approached The Project

Having undertaken an initial appraisal of the proposals, we provided clear advice to the client that the key issue to address from a highways perspective was in relation to the shortfall of parking from the Local Plan parking standards. It was therefore imperative that the information submitted to support the proposals provided a clear justification for any parking shortfall from standards.

In order to address this, we provided a supporting Transport Note, with a particular focus on the site’s sustainable location in relation to Chester city centre. The site is located approximately 1.5km north of Chester City centre, and as such benefits from excellent pedestrian and cycle links, with ready access to bus and rail services and associated city centre services and amenities.

How We Achieved The Project

In tandem with the production of the Transport Note, we worked closely with our in-house Architectural team to maximise the available space within the site, to provide a more coherent parking arrangement. This resulted in the creation of a small amount of additional parking within the site, with significantly improved manoeuvrability over the existing scenario, demonstrated with a supporting vehicle swept path assessment. We were therefore able to demonstrate to the Local Highway Authority that the shortfall of parking would not result in any detriment to the safe operation of the adjoining highway, and that the proposed parking arrangement would represent betterment over the existing scenario.