Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Cathryn Henry and Mike Rice.

Councillor Faye Frost was substituting for Councillor Henry and Councilor Shanley was substituting for Councillor Rice.

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Cathryn Henry and Mike Rice.

Councillor Faye Frost was substituting for Councillor Henry and Councilor Shanley was substituting for Councillor Rice.

To take as read and approve as a true record the minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on the 20 July 2017.

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting of the Planning Control Committee held on 20 July 2017 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and signed by the Chairman.

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes of the meeting of the Planning Control Committee held on 20 July 2017 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and signed by the Chairman.

Members should notify the Chairman of other business which they wish to be discussed by the Committee at the end of the 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 Chairman will decide whether any item(s) raised will be considered.

There was no other business.

There was no other business.

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 Chairman 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 which requires they leave the room under Paragraph 7.4 of the Code of Conduct, can speak on the item, but must leave the room before the debate and vote.

(1)    The Chairman welcomed the Committee, officers, general public and speakers to this Planning Control Committee Meeting;

(2)    The Chairman announced that Members of the public and the press may use their devices to film/photograph, or make a sound recording of the meeting, but he asked them to not use flash and to disable any beeps or other sound notifications that emitted from their devices;

(3)    The Chairman reminded Members and speakers that in line with Council policy, this meeting would be audio recorded;

(4)    The Chairman advised that Members would be using hand held microphones and asked they wait until they had been handed a microphone before starting to speak;

(5)    The Chairman requested that all Members, officers and speakers announce their names before speaking;

(6)    The Chairman clarified that each group of speakers would have a maximum of 5 minutes. The bell would sound after 4 1/2 minutes as a warning, and then again at 5 minutes to signal that the presentation must cease; and

(7)    Members were 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 were required to notify the Chairman 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 which required they leave the room under Paragraph 7.4 of the Code of Conduct, could speak on the item, but must leave the room before the debate and vote.

(1)    The Chairman welcomed the Committee, officers, general public and speakers to this Planning Control Committee Meeting;

(2)    The Chairman announced that Members of the public and the press may use their devices to film/photograph, or make a sound recording of the meeting, but he asked them to not use flash and to disable any beeps or other sound notifications that emitted from their devices;

(3)    The Chairman reminded Members and speakers that in line with Council policy, this meeting would be audio recorded;

(4)    The Chairman advised that Members would be using hand held microphones and asked they wait until they had been handed a microphone before starting to speak;

(5)    The Chairman requested that all Members, officers and speakers announce their names before speaking;

(6)    The Chairman clarified that each group of speakers would have a maximum of 5 minutes. The bell would sound after 4 1/2 minutes as a warning, and then again at 5 minutes to signal that the presentation must cease; and

(7)    Members were 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 were required to notify the Chairman 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 which required they leave the room under Paragraph 7.4 of the Code of Conduct, could speak on the item, but must leave the room before the debate and vote.

To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public. At the time of preparing the agenda no requests to speak had been received.

Any public participation received within the agreed time scale will be notified to Members as soon as is practicable

The Chairman confirmed that the three registered speakers and one Member Advocate were present.

The Chairman confirmed that the three registered speakers and one Member Advocate were present.

REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION MANAGER

Approval of details relating to appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for the erection of 19 dwellings comprising 3 x 5 bedroom dwellings, 12 x 4 bedroom dwellings and 4 x 3 bedroom dwellings (pursuant to outline planning permission ref no. 16/01477/1 granted on 24 October 2016). Separate new access to plots 18  19 onto Garden Walk (As amended by plan TROY161123-SW SS.01C)

RESOLVED: That application 17/01125/1 be GRANTED reserved matters permission subject to the conditions and reasons as set out in the report of the Development and Conservation Manager and the following:

Condition 1

That Condition 1 be deleted.

Condition 14 in the report (now Condition 13)

That Condition 14 in the report of the Development and Conservation Manager (now Condition 13) be amended to read:

“Prior to the commencement of development a Construction Method Statement shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority in consultation with the highway authority. Thereafter the construction of the development shall only be carried out in accordance with the approved Statement.

The Construction Method Statement shall address the following matters:

a. Off site highway works in order to provide sufficient access throughout the construction period, work shall be completed prior to the commencement of development, and reinstated as required.

b. Construction and storage compounds (including areas designated for car parking and delivery vehicle holding pen away from the site)

c. Siting and details of wheel washing facilities and street sweeping

d. Cable trenches

e. Foundation works

f. Substation/control building.”

Approval of details relating to appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for the erection of 19 dwellings comprising 3 x 5 bedroom dwellings, 12 x 4 bedroom dwellings and 4 x 3 bedroom dwellings (pursuant to outline planning permission ref no. 16/01477/1 granted on 24 October 2016). Separate new access to plots 18 19 onto Garden Walk (As amended by plan TROY161123-SW SS.01C).

The Development and Conservation Manager advised the Committee of the following corrections to the report:

·           The first line of Paragraph 6.1 should read: “That approval of reserved matters be granted subject to the following conditions:”;

·           Condition 1 was not necessary and should be deleted as the time limit was imposed that the granting of the outline permission.

The Development and Conservation Manager introduced the report supported by a visual presentation consisting of plans, drawings and photographs of the site.

Mr Matthew Wood, Applicant’s Agent, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Committee and advised that the principle for the redevelopment of the application site to provide up to 19 new dwellings together with its associated access had been established through the Council’s previous approval of the related outline planning application and the associated Section 106 agreement, including the relevant community contributions, had already been duly signed and agreed with the Council.

This reserved matters planning application sought only to agree matters of appearance, landscaping, layout, and scale.

The outline planning permission included a design informative encouraging the applicant to ensure that the detailed proposals were reflective of Royston’s farming heritage with particular reference to the properties intended to front onto Garden Walk itself.

Following collaborative working with officers, including early pre-application engagement, the current proposals had been accepted as providing a suitable reference to Royston’s heritage which was reflected in the building facades which displayed clear Victorian influences as can be seen in their window arrangements, entrance porches, inclusion of chimneys and the use of traditional materials such as buff brickwork, slate roofs and a panel of knapped flint work to the garage situated on the Garden Walk frontage. Whilst buff brickwork was the predominant material across the site, a number of plots were finished with render, and black timber boarding was used sparingly where appropriate.

A high quality soft landscaping scheme for the site had been prepared and submitted in support of this planning application which included a good level of soft vegetation across the site including to its frontage and bounding the site’s proposed open space and was supported by officers with reference to their supporting Committee report.

The detailed layout proposed provided a high quality proposal set around a central access road and included a well-integrated central area of public open space as well as good levels of private garden and off-street car parking fully compliant with the Council’s Adopted Standards in these regards.

The proposal therefore provided a significant overall enhancement of its setting as well as demonstrating full compatibility and harmony with existing residential properties neighbouring the site as again confirmed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION MANAGER

Erection of 3 x 3 bedroom dwellings with detached garages, associated car parking spaces and new vehicular access onto Rabley Heath road and ancillary works following demolition of all existing buildings (as amended by drawings received 13/07/2017).

RESOLVED: That application 17/01183/1 be GRANTED planning permission subject to the conditions and reasons as set out in the report of the Development and Conservation Manager.

Erection of 3 x 3 bedroom dwellings with detached garages, associated car parking spaces and new vehicular access onto Rabley Heath road and ancillary works following demolition of all existing buildings (as amended by drawings received 13/07/2017).

The Strategic Sites Planning Officer advised that, since writing the report, he had received a further representation from the Waste Services Team which reiterated that they had no objections to the application.

The Strategic Sites Planning Officer introduced the report supported by a visual presentation consisting of plans, drawings and photographs of the site.

Parish Councillor Mark Ireland, Codicote Parish Council, objecting to the application, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Committee and advised that he wished to draw attention to three issues regarding this application.

The site was in the green belt. The green belt was being eroded and, although the plans indicated a decrease in the space used for the development, it must be recognised that there was a permanence associated with housing as opposed to the current storage. He suggested that this was a significant visual impact.

The report stated this was a previously developed site, however there was some ambiguity regarding this definition. As a layman and business man he believed that any ambiguity should be clarified before any decision was taken regarding this site.

The last issue was that, as acknowledged by the applicant, the land was contaminated and housing should not be built on contaminated land.

Members asked for clarification regarding the comments made relating to ambiguity regarding the designation of previously developed land.

Parish Councillor Ireland advised that he had completed some research and there was some ambiguity regarding classification of the site as previously developed, which could be further developed and land that has been used as agricultural land, which was exempt from the presumption towards development. Paragraph 4.3.6 of the report acknowledged that the site had in the past been used for agricultural purposes.

The Senior Lawyer advised that there had been a Judicial Review case (Lee Valley Regional Park Authority against Broxbourne Borough Council 2015) that clarified that, if land was mixed use, or was no longer in agricultural use, it could be deemed as previously developed land.

The Chairman thanked Parish Councillor Ireland for his presentation.

Councillor Steve Hemingway, Member Advocate speaking in objection to the application, thanked the Chairman for the opportunity to address the Committee.

Councillor Hemingway advised that he wished specifically address the issue of whether this site could be considered as a brownfield site.

The legal case referred to by the Senior Lawyer was not mentioned in the Officer’s report and therefore he had not had the opportunity to consider it.

He informed Members that Councillor Jane Gray was not persuaded that the brownfield exemption could be applied to this site in the green belt and all the key arguments were set out on page 17 of the report.

Previously developed land did not mean land that had been built upon or occupied by buildings.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION MANAGER

RESOLVED: That the report entitled Planning Appeals be noted.

The Development and Conservation Manager presented the report entitled Planning Appeals

RESOLVED: That the report entitled Planning Appeals be noted.