Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Mitre Suite, Bishops Stortford Football Club, Woodside, Dunmow Road, Bishop's Stortford

Contact: Peter Mannings  Tel: (01279) 502174 Email:  peter.mannings@eastherts.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

26.

Apologies

To receive apologies for absence.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors M Freeman and K Warnell.  It was noted that Councillors S Bull and S Cousins were substituting for Councillors M Freeman and K Warnell.

27.

Chairman's Announcements

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed the press and public and outlined the housekeep arrangements.  He stated that Councillor K Warnell had submitted his apologies to avoid any perception of bias as he had been actively involved in chairing meetings regarding the Bishop’s Stortford Neighbourhood Plan.

 

The Chairman advised that the Committee would return to the normal schedule of meetings on 24 May 2017.

28.

Declarations of Interest

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor J Goodeve declared an interest in application 3/16/0530/OUT in the interests of transparency.  She declared that her daughter was currently doing her university industrial placement year at Kier and that she had been made a verbal offer of employment upon graduation in 2018 and Kier formed part of Solum Regeneration who were the applicant.  She wished to put on record this had no impact on her role as a DMC member and that she would make her judgement on the application with an open mind, listening to all the evidence.

29.

3/16/0530/OUT - A hybrid planning application for the comprehensive redevelopment of the 5.82 ha Goods Yard site for mixed use purposes at the former Bishop's Stortford Goods Yard, Station Road, Bishop's Stortford for Solum Regeneration pdf icon PDF 476 KB

Recommended for Approval.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The following addressed the Committee in objection to the application:

 

·               Mr Rhodes (Bishop’s Stortford Civic Federation)

·               Mrs Goldspink

·               Dr Wilson

 

The following addressed the Committee in support of the application:

 

·               Mr Serginson (Solum Regeneration – Applicant)

·               Mr Green (Savills – Applicant’s Agent)

 

Councillor R Gilbert addressed the Committee in objection to the application of behalf of Bishop’s Stortford Town Council.  Councillors G Cutting and N Symonds addressed the Committee as local ward Members in respect of a number of concerns regarding the application.

 

The Head of Planning and Building Control recommended that in respect of application 3/16/0530/OUT, subject to a Section 106 agreement, planning permission be granted subject to the conditions detailed in the report now submitted.

 

The Chairman referred to what was a complex application with a lot of associated documents for Members to consider.  He summarised the application and invited the Head of Planning and Building Control to present the report.

 

The Head of Planning and Building Control referred to the additional representations summary and to an online petition submitted by the local Labour party.  Officers pointed out that the postal addresses of signatories were not included in the petition and that the petition did not point to any particular issues.  The Head also referred to a representation from the owner of the nearby Leisure Centre. The Chairman agreed that the remaining items in the update could be taken as read.

 

The Head summarised a number of key issues in the report and detailed the elements of the hybrid application that were in phase 1 and the particulars of the application that were in phases 2 to 4.  Members were advised that prior to the amendment to the application that converted phases 2-3 to outline, a number of aspects of the proposed development were considered unsatisfactory: the housing typology, the quality of the planned open space and riverside and the lack of enhancement to biodiversity.  The site was considered very suitable for business uses which had not been included in the application.

 

The Head referred to details of phase 1 including traffic modelling of the planned north/south link road and its impact on the Hockerill controlled junction.  Members were advised that the alignment of this link road could be changed to enable the road to be managed as either a route for buses, taxis and cycles only or as an all traffic through route following further modelling work. 

 

Members were also advised that the scheme would improve the bus station and taxi rank as well as the quality of footpaths and cycle links.  The Head stated that these planned improvements must connect to existing routes outside the site.

 

The Head referred to the importance of adequate and ample car parking.  He made a final key point in terms of the amount of affordable housing proposed and its dependency on the financial viability of the development.  He referred to financial contributions regarding infrastructure and the applicants’ agreement to future reviews of the financial viability of the development that could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.