WORK on the Waveney Campus project for Lowestoft reached a major milestone this week with the submission of a detailed planning application.The Planning Authority has received the application for the flagship building, a month after it was announced that work would begin again on the project.
WORK on the Waveney Campus project for Lowestoft reached a major milestone this week with the submission of a detailed planning application.
The Planning Authority has received the application for the flagship building, a month after it was announced that work would begin again on the project.
The future of the proposed £52.7m project had been called into question when spending was suspended at the end of July, when the Boundary Committee put forward its proposal for Lowestoft to be governed by a unitary Norfolk authority. But after project partners vowed to back the development, work appears to be back on track.
Waveney District Council has now submitted the application for the proposed construction of the campus development consisting of office accommodation, laboratories, aquarium, sea water tanks, storage landscaping, roads and car parking.
The proposed building will house 1,000 council and science workers by autumn 2010, with staff from Waveney District and Suffolk County councils based on the banks of Lake Lothing together with a new centre for Cefas science laboratory.
The application includes a 77-page Design and Access Statement Report from project architects, alongside more than 80 further supporting documents. Among the range of issues covered are architectural proposals for the building, its sustainability credentials and the project's objectives and how they will be achieved.
Wendy Mawer, Waveney's portfolio holder for regeneration, said: “This application presents a remarkable level of detail to the Planning Authority and it reflects the painstaking and meticulous work undertaken by the project team and AEDAS to ensure that this building satisfies every criteria for the partners, our stakeholders and communities.”
The application also includes feedback from the public consultation events that took place earlier this year.
Ms Mawer added: “We received some very constructive feedback from the exhibitions and we are pleased that so many people came along to learn more about the Campus proposals. The plans have evolved further since then and I would encourage anyone who is interested in the project to take a look at this application, either online or at the Council's planning offices at the Marina Centre.”
A senior planning officer from Breckland District Council has been brought in to bring an independent view on the application, and it is anticipated that is will go forward for consideration at the Development Control meeting in Lowestoft on 21 January 21, 2009.
The full planning application can be viewed by visiting http://publicaccess.waveney.gov.uk/PublicAccess/tdc/DcApplication/application_detailview.aspx?caseno=K95CE2QX02200
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