Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

Members are required to notify any substitutions by midday on the day of the meeting.

Late substitutions will not be accepted and Members attending as a substitute without having given the due notice will not be able to take part in the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bryony May and Martin Prescott.

Having given due notice Councillor Steve Jarvis substituted for Cllr May and Councillor Claire Strong substituted for Cllr Prescott.

Audio recording – 1 minutes 27 seconds

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bryony May and Martin Prescott.

Having given due notice Councillor Steve Jarvis substituted for Councillor May and Councillor Claire Strong substituted for Councillor Prescott.

To take as read and approve as a true record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 18 September 2025.

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 18 September be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Audio recording – 1 minute 52 seconds

Councillor Nigel Mason, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Ian Mantle seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 18 September be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Members should notify the Chair of other business which they wish to be discussed at the end of either Part I or Part II business set out in the agenda. They must state the circumstances which they consider justify the business being considered as a matter of urgency.

The Chair will decide whether any item(s) raised will be considered.

There was no other business notified.

Audio recording – 21 minutes 38 seconds

There was no other business notified.

Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chair of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda.  Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wishing to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.

(1)   The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be recorded.

(2)   The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)   The Chair clarified matters for the registered speakers.

(4)   The Chair confirmed the procedure for moving to debate on an item.

(5)   The Chair advised that Section 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution applied to the meeting.

(6)   The Chair confirmed the cut off procedure should the meeting proceed at length.

Audio recording – 2 minutes 42 seconds

(1)   The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be recorded.

(2)   The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)   The Chair clarified matters for the registered speakers.

(4)   The Chair confirmed the procedure for moving to debate on an item.

(5)   The Chair advised that Section 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution applied to the meeting.

(6)   The Chair confirmed the cut off procedure should the meeting proceed at length.

To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.

The Chair confirmed that the registered speakers were in attendance.

Audio recording – 5 minutes 10 seconds

The Chair confirmed that the registered speakers were in attendance.

REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION MANAGER

Outline Planning Application for Residential Development of up to 280 dwellings (including affordable housing) green infrastructure including public open space, landscape boundaries and SUDS with all matters reserved except for access which is to be taken from Barkway Road (as amended by additional documents received 16 September 2025).

RESOLVED: That application 21/00765/OP be REFUSED planning permission for the following reasons:

a)    The site, if developed, would fail to provide adequate opportunity for travel by residents and visitors by non-car transport modes and would therefore be contrary to paragraphs 110, 115 and 116 of the NPPF and adopted North Hertfordshire Local Plan policy SP9.

b)    The site was not an allocated housing site within the adopted North Hertfordshire Local Plan and was located outside the settlement boundary of Royston and within the rural area beyond the Green Belt. It was therefore in conflict with policies SP5 and CGB1 of the adopted North Hertfordshire Local Plan.

Audio recording – 5 minutes 53 seconds

N.B. Councillor Ruth Brown declared an interest in this item due to her role as a Royston Town Councillor but confirmed that she had received a dispensation from the Monitoring Officer for this item only. She would therefore remain in the Council Chamber for consideration of this item.

N.B. Councillor Ruth Brown further declared that she was a Hertfordshire County Councillor, however following discussions with the Monitoring Officer previously, it was deemed that this was not an interest to prevent participation.

The Project Officer provided a verbal update on matters relating to Application 21/00765/OP and advised that:

·       There had been a few additional matters set out in the addendum to the main report.

·       An objection from Councillors Matt Barnes, Ruth Clifton and Tim Johnson was received in response to the re-consultation advice which had been omitted from the main report regarding technical matters and some general queries.

·       The existing highways issues on Barkway Road were localised.

·       The traffic survey held in December 2024 was deemed by the Highway Authority to be adequate.

·       Traffic on Barkway Road was not free flowing at peak times, but the additional delays were not considered by the Highway Authority to have an impact on this.

·       It could now be confirmed that Royston Town Council were not opposed to the routing of active travel through Green Walk Plantation.

·       The published report and addendum set out potential additional highway mitigation measures.

·       The Conservators of Therfield Heath and Greens had written a further letter withdrawing their request for mitigation and requesting that their application be refused in the absence of requested funding. This letter was available on public access system of the Council. If the Conservators did not accept the Section 106 contribution, the mitigation strategy would need to be amended.

·       The addendum was an outline application with all matters reserved apart from the means of access.

·       Members were considering an in-application Masterplan as part of the proposal, details of this were set out in informative part of the report.

N.B. Councillor Steve Jarvis entered the Chamber at 19:18.

The Chair confirmed with Councillor Steve Jarvis that as the item had been started, he would be unable to participate due to his late arrival.

The Project Officer then presented the report in respect of Application 21/00765/OP accompanied by a visual presentation consisting of plans and photographs.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Louise Peace

·       Councillor Claire Strong

·       Councillor Ruth Brown

·       Councillor Tom Tyson

·       Councillor Val Bryant

In response to questions, the Senior Transport Policy Officer advised that:

·       The Highways Objection in 2022 had been withdrawn because they were satisfied that the solution reached to change the red line boundary to reach Shrubbery Grove was in accordance with the Local Transport Plan.

·       The additional traffic modelling had shown there was no impact to the junction but did not advise on the effect of traffic from Barkway Road.

·       Conversion of the existing level crossing was proposed to improve the junction and to make  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION MANAGER

Construction of the main spine road (The Avenue) from Stotfold Road connecting to High Dane, creation of drainage ponds, swales and other associated drainage infrastructure, signage and other necessary highway and service infrastructure (to serve future development parcels) (outline was EIA development with an ES submitted).

RESOLVED: That application 24/02780/RM be GRANTED planning permission subject to the conditions set out in the report of the Development and Conservation Manager and the delegation of authority to the Development and Conservation Manager to update conditions and information with minor amendments as required.

Audio recording – 2 hours 4 minutes 40 seconds

N.B. Councillor Nigel Mason declared an interest and left the Chamber and did not take place in the debate or vote. The Vice-Chair, Councillor Emma Fernandes, chaired the item.

The Senior Planning Officer provided a verbal update on matters relating to Application 24/02780/RM and advised that:

·       There were no further updates for Members.

·       No objections had been received from the Highway Authority or the Lead Local Flood Authority (LFFA) on any detail of the plans.

The Senior Planning Officer then presented the report in respect of Application 24/02780/RM accompanied by a visual presentation consisting of plans and photographs.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Dave Winstanley

·       Councillor Ruth Brown

In response to questions, the Senior Planning Officer advised that:

·       The design of the road caused the carriageway narrowed from two lanes to one lane as illustrated in one of the slides in the presentation.

·       The Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) would be attractive, with two ponds in the northern corner, one with a level of water and one without.

·       The swales would be green and usable. 

In response to questions the Senior Transport Officer advised that:

·       This application was for groundworks, not for the infrastructure that would make the bus gate open.

·       There was expectation that a camera would be installed in the spine road after correct procedure was followed and Hertfordshire County Council would have the power to enforce penalty charges for vehicles that passed through that were not buses.

The Chair invited the Public Objector, Mr Richard Wilcox to speak against the application. Mr Wilcox thanked the Chair for the opportunity and provided the Committee with a verbal presentation, and highlighted the following:

·       At that Planning Committee held in July 2023 a decision was taken to defer this item to allow for more traffic data to be gathered.

·       In September 2023 a weeklong traffic survey was caried out, but this data was not shared.

·       In a transport note provided for the planning meeting councillors were given a report showing old data related from manual counts which indicated that traffic flows were in decline.

·       Numerous reasons were given for why data was not provided, including that it wasn’t ready and that traffic data wasn’t material to the outline decision.

·       The Department for Transport does have a count point on the Cambridge Road but the data was not from manual counts as it was estimated.

·       The Department for Transport figures were robust and reported as national statistics, but traffic estimates for individual roads were less robust as they were not always based on up-to-date counts.

·       The response received in August was specifically referenced to this Department for Transport data.

·       Therefore, a decision was made to approve this application where traffic data had been falsely represented and other pertinent data had been withheld.

There were no points of clarification from Members.

The Chair thanked Mr Wilcox for his presentation and the Member Advocate Objectors, Councillors Elizabeth Dennis and Daniel Wright-Mason to speak against  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.

REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION MANAGER

Variation of wording to Condition 3 and Condition 20 of planning permission 18/01502/OP granted on 25.07.2023.

RESOLVED: That application 25/02234/S73 be GRANTED planning permission subject to the conditions set out in the report of the Development and Conservation Manager, amended as follows:

a)    The completion of a satisfactory Deed of Variation or other legal mechanism that secures the S106 obligations agreed as part of the Outline Application (18/01502/OP) and the applicant agreeing to extend the statutory period to complete it, if required.

b)    Delegation of power to the Development and Conservation Manager to:

(i)             Resolve any outstanding matters,

(ii)            Update conditions and informatives with minor amendments as required and,

(iii)           Authorise the completion of other legal mechanism if not completed through a satisfactory Deed of Variation.

Audio recording – 2 hours 50 minutes 40 seconds

The Senior Planning Officer provided a verbal update on matters relating to Application 25/02234/S73 and advised that:

·       The applicant had agreed to the pre commencement conditions.

·       An amendment had been made to point a) to include legal mechanism wording.

·       The additional condition 4 had been agreed by the Applicant.

·       No objections had been received from the Highways Authority or from the Lead Local Flood Authority (LFFA).

The Senior Planning Officer then presented the report in respect of Application 25/02234/S73 accompanied by a visual presentation consisting of plans and photographs.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Louise Peace

·       Councillor Claire Strong

In response to questions, the Senior Planning Officer advised that:

·       The original condition 3 was restrictive and had therefore been amended to be in accordance with the details which formed the basis of the application.

·       A Masterplan Compliance Statement would be submitted for condition 4 which would provide explanation of how it would accord with the masterplan and that any variation would require justification.

·       The original masterplan was predated from 2018.

In response to questions, the Local Planning Lawyer advised that: 

·       The original section 106 agreement did not include a Section 73 clause.

·       It was critical to ensure that any amended condition was dealing with the legal mechanism to protect the original Section 106 agreements.

The Chair invited the Applicant’s Representatives, Mr Andrew Hodgson and Ms Alice Kirkham to speak in support of the application. Mr Hodgson and Ms Kirkham thanked the Chair for the opportunity and provided the Committee with a verbal presentation, and highlighted the following:

·       Mr Hodgson was a representative from Redrow homes.

·       This Section 73 (S73) application followed the withdrawal of the previous S73 application.

·       No changes were being made to the original plans.

·       The new condition 4 was being imposed to comply with the masterplan document.

·       Condition 20, from the 2018 agreement, related to surface water and a more appropriate solution had been prepared and agreed.

·       Amendments in this application were to address the original restrictive wording of condition 3.

·       The changes only related to the conditions amended and were not part of the scheme.

There were no points of clarification from Members.

Councillor Nigel Mason, as Chair, proposed to grant permission and this was seconded by Councillor Dave Winstanley and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That application 25/02234/S73 be GRANTED planning permission subject to the conditions set out in the report of the Development and Conservation Manager, amended as follows:

a)    The completion of a satisfactory Deed of Variation or other legal mechanism that secures the S106 obligations agreed as part of the Outline Application (18/01502/OP) and the applicant agreeing to extend the statutory period to complete it, if required.

b)    Delegation of power to the Development and Conservation Manager to:

(i)        Resolve any outstanding matters,

(ii)       Update conditions and informatives with minor amendments as required and,

(iii)     Authorise the completion of other legal mechanism if not completed through a satisfactory Deed of Variation.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.

REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION MANAGER

To update Members on appeals lodged and any decisions made.

The Development and Conservation Manager provided an update on Planning Appeals.

Audio recording – 3 hours 8 minutes 10 seconds

The Development and Conservation Manager presented the report entitled ‘Planning Appeals’ and advised that:

·       There had been two appeals lodged.

·       One appeal decision had been dismissed and the other one had been partly allowed in relation to the front access path.