Agenda item

Recommended for Approval, subject to a S106 Planning Obligation of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Mr Jackson addressed the Committee in opposition to the application.  Amy Richardson spoke for the application.

 

The Director of Neighbourhood Services recommended that, in respect of application 3/10/2040/OP, subject to no objections being raised by the Secretary of State following referral to him as an application involving a departure from the Development Plan and subject to the applicant entering into a legal agreement pursuant to section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, planning permission be granted subject to the conditions now detailed.

 

Councillor S Bull, as the local ward Member, stated that this site was not within the settlement boundary of Buntingford.  He believed that the application was not sustainable due to the poor levels of public transport and employment opportunities in the vicinity of the site.  He expressed concerns in relation to the impact on Monks Walk, particularly around school times as the site lines made this a dangerous access situation.

 

Councillor Bull commented that there was a much safer access onto Baldock Road and Greenways.  He felt this could be more satisfactory for the residents of Longmead.  He also stated that he was pleased that both the entrance and exit from the site would be available in future.

 

Councillor M Newman stated that the recommendation for approval set a worrying precedent, particularly in relation to paragraph 7.14 of the report now submitted.  He referred to the East Herts Local Plan Second Review April 2007 as not being supportive of development in this location. 

 

Councillor Newman further referred to other government papers in support of such development.  He stated that the Local Plan seemed to be in conflict with other legislation and this must be a significant concern to the Committee.  He concluded that Members should take the current local plan as the basis for all the decisions made by the Committee. 

 

The Director stated that there was currently not a particularly clean situation with regard to the status of the Local Plan in relation to other elements of the development plan.  The East of England Regional Plan was still in force as the government had been successfully challenged in its attempts to abolish this document.  The government had made clear its intention to revoke the Regional Plan and the courts had ruled that it was reasonable for Local Authorities to give this due weight in making decisions.

 

The Director stressed that , despite this, the main issue was policy PPS3, in which the government has made it clear that the Authority has to provide a meaningful and ongoing 5 year supply of housing.  The government had also referred to the need for a buffer in excess of 5 years.

 

Members were advised that, in relation to housing supply, the figures on which this would be judged were contained in the East of England Regional Plan.  Until the Authority produced its own targets, those in the Regional Plan had to be used and experience in other cases indicated that appeal inspectors would continue to refer to that document.

 

The Director stressed that each site released for development must be considered on its own merits.  The situation in relation to land supply would have to be considered in every case and could not automatically be taken as a precedent.  However, strong policy messages had come from the government, recently indicating that Local Authorities should be permitting development to go ahead unless there were fundamental problems with a particular scheme.

 

Members would have to weigh up the policy approach of the Local Plan and East of England Plan and the more recent messages coming from central government.  Officers had considered all these matters in reaching the recommendation detailed in the report now submitted.

 

Councillor A Burlton stressed that paragraph 7.2 of the report would tend to imply that this scheme constituted inappropriate development.  He expressed concerns in relation to the first item of the section 106 legal obligation in relation to car parking.  He also commented on whether the provision of 40% affordable housing included the provision of 15% of the dwellings being built to ‘Lifetime Homes’ standards.

 

The Director advised that the provision of 15% lifetime homes was not linked to the provision of 40% affordable housing.  He stated that the lifetime home provision was across the entire development.  In respect of car parking, Members were advised that the Council’s policy was very much based on the number of spaces.  A contribution of £500 per space was seen as a reasonable contribution for developers that was offset by the value such provision would add to any given property.

 

After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the Committee accepted the recommendation of the Director of Neighbourhood Services that, subject to no objections being raised by the Secretary of State following referral to him as an application involving a departure from the Development Plan, application 3/10/2040/OP be granted subject to the conditions now detailed and the section 106 legal agreement.

 

RESOLVED – that subject to no objections being raised by the Secretary of State following referral to him as an application involving a departure from the Development Plan and subject to the applicant entering into a Section 106 legal agreement of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to cover the following matters:

 

1.    The provision of a financial contribution per car parking space towards sustainable transport schemes and measures in the vicinity of the site  in accordance with the standard charges in East Herts Council’s Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document October 2008;

 

2.    The provision of a financial contribution towards recycling facilities in accordance with the standard charges in East Herts Council’s Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document October 2008;

 

3.    The provision of library contributions, in accordance with the current HCC Contributions Table;

 

4.    The provision of Nursery, Middle and Upper Education contributions, in accordance with the current HCC Contributions Table;

 

5.    The provision of Youth and Childcare infrastructure contributions, in accordance with the current HCC Contributions Table;

 

6.    The provision of parks and gardens and provision for children and young people contributions, in accordance with the standard charges in East Herts Council’s Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document October 2008;

 

7.    The provision of 40% affordable housing comprising 75% rented and 25% intermediate market housing (if 15 or more dwellings are proposed);

 

8.    The provision of 15% of the dwellings to be built to ‘Lifetime Homes’ standards and scaled drawings to be submitted at reserved matters stage of internal layout and external spaces for these dwellings.

 

in respect of application 3/10/2040/OP, planning permission be granted subject to the following conditions:

 

1.            Outline permission time limit (1T03)

 

2.            Outline – submission of details (2E01) (delete ‘the means of access thereto)

 

3.            The total number of residential units within the development hereby permitted in outline shall not exceed 26 as proposed within the submitted application.

 

        Reason: To ensure the provision of an appropriate form of development that is compatible with the context of the surrounding area; in accordance with the parameters set out within the application and accompanying Design and Access Statement, and in accordance with policy ENV1 of the Local Plan.

 

4.            Approved Plans (2E10) Loc Plan, 01, IT963/TA/01 (SCHEME 05), IT963/TA/01 (SCHEME 06)

 

5.            Programme of archaeological work (2E02)

 

6.            Prior to the commencement of any works on the site, an ecological survey of the site, shall be carried out and details including an assessment of the impact of the proposed development and any appropriate measures to alleviate such impact, shall be submitted to for the written approval of the Local Planning Authority.  Mitigation measures shall be carried out in accordance with the approved scheme prior to any works commencing and thereafter be retained where appropriate.

 

        Reason: To enable proper consideration of the effect of the development on the contribution of nature conservation interests to the amenity of the area, in accordance with PPS 9 Biodiversity and Geological Conservation.

 

7.    Construction parking and storage (3V22)

 

8.    Wheel washing facilities (3V25)

 

9.            Contaminated Land survey and remediation (2E332)

 

10.      Construction hours of working- plant and machinery (6N07)

 

11.      The development shall not be brought into use until all highway works on the site access and Longmead as shown in principle drawing no:IT963/TA/01 (or as otherwise previously agreed in writing by the local planning authority) have been constructed.

 

        Reason: To ensure the access is constructed to the current Highway Authority’s specification in the interest of highway safety and amenity in accordance with Policy TR2 of the East Herts Local Plan Second Review April 2007.

 

12.  The access works shall not commence until detailed plans of the site access junction, internal road and car parking have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The development shall thereafter be carried out in accordance with the approved details.

 

        Reason: To ensure the access is constructed to the current Highway Authority’s specification in the interest of highway safety and amenity in accordance with Policy TR2 of the East Herts Local Plan.

 

13.  The construction of the development shall not commence until details of construction vehicle movements and traffic management measures are submitted to and approved by the Local Planning Authority. The development shall thereafter be carried out in accordance with the approved details.

 

        Reason: To ensure the impact of construction vehicles on the local road network is minimised.

 

Directives:

 

1.            Planning Obligation (08PO)

 

2.            Please note that if either before or during construction works it is discovered that the site is contaminated the responsibility for safe development and secure occupancy of the site lies with the developer.

 

Summary of Reasons for Decision

 

The proposal has been considered with regard to the policies of the Development Plan (East of England Plan May 2008, Hertfordshire County Structure Plan, Minerals Local Plan, Waste Local Plan and the saved policies of the East Herts Local Plan Second Review April 2007), and in particular policies SD1, SD2, HSG3, HSG4, HSG6, GBC2, GBC3, TR2, TR7 ENV1, ENV2, ENV11, ENV16, ENV17, BH1, BH2, BH3 and IMP1 andPPS 1: Delivering Sustainable Development, PPS 3: Housing and PPS 9 Biodiversity and Geological Conservation. The balance of the considerations having regard to those policies and other material considerations is that permission should be granted.