Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

1.

Emergency evacuation procedure

The Chair will ask the Committee Administrator to draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 6

Minutes:

The Senior Democratic Services Officer read out the procedure

2.

Election of Vice Chair (if desired)

Minutes:

A Vice Chair was not desired

3.

Apologies for absence and Substitutions

Minutes:

There was an apology for absence from Councillor Bryan Organ whose substitute was Councillor Vic Pritchard

4.

Declarations of Interest

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number and site in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or other interest  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Minutes:

Councillor Martin Veal declared a personal and prejudicial interest in the planning application at Victory Gardens, Bannerdown Drive, Batheaston (Item 7, Report 10) as he was the applicant and therefore he would leave the meeting for its consideration. Councillor Malcolm Lees declared an interest in the application at Weston All Saints Ce Vc Primary School, Broadmoor Lane, Upper Weston, Bath (Item 3, Report 10) as he owned property in the near vicinity and therefore he would make a statement as Ward Councillor and leave the meeting for its consideration. Councillor Ian Gilchrist declared an interest in the application at Parcel 0074 Flatts Lane, Farmborough (Item 1, Report 10) as he was a shareholder of Bath and West Community Energy and therefore he would leave the meeting for its consideration.

5.

To Announce any Urgent Business Agreed by the Chair

Minutes:

There was none

6.

Items from the Public - To receive Deputations, Statements, Petitions or Questions

(1) At the time of publication, no items had been submitted.

 

(2) To note that, regarding planning applications to be considered, members of the public who have given the requisite notice to the Committee Administrator will be able to make a statement to the Committee immediately before their respective applications are considered. There will be a time limit of 3 minutes for each proposal, ie 3 minutes for the Parish and Town Councils, 3 minutes for the objectors to the proposal and 3 minutes for the applicant, agent and supporters. This allows a maximum of 9 minutes per proposal.

Minutes:

The Senior Democratic Services Officer explained the procedure for public speaking and indicated that there were numerous people wishing to make statements on planning applications and that they would be able to do so when reaching their respective items in Reports 9 and 10

7.

Items from Councillors and Co-opted Members

To deal with any petitions or questions from Councillors and where appropriate Co-opted Members

Minutes:

There was none

8.

Minutes: 7th May 2014 pdf icon PDF 97 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 7th May 2014

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 7th May 2014 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair

9.

Site Visit List - Application for Planning Permission Etc for Determination by the Committee pdf icon PDF 843 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered

 

·  The report of the Divisional Director of Development on an application for planning permission etc

·  Oral statements by members of the public etc against and in favour of the development, the Speakers List being attached as Appendix 1 to these Minutes

 

RESOLVED that, in accordance with their delegated powers, the application be determined as set out in the Decision List attached as Appendix 2 to these Minutes

 

Land between access road and canal, Sham Castle Lane, Bathwick, Bath – Erection of 1 detached dwelling (Resubmission) – The Case Officer reported on this application and her recommendation to grant permission subject to conditions.

 

The public speakers made their statements on the matter which was followed by a statement by the Ward Councillor David Martin.

 

Members asked questions about the proposal to which the Officer responded. Councillor Les Kew considered that this was a good proposal which, subject to appropriate conditions including obscured glass on the balcony, was acceptable. He therefore moved the Officer recommendation. The motion was seconded by Councillor Doug Nicol.

 

After a short debate, the motion was put to the vote and was carried unanimously.

10.

Main Plans List - Applications for Planning Permission Etc for Determination by the Committee pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered

 

·  The report of the Divisional Director of Development on various applications for planning permission etc

·  Oral statements by members of the public etc on Item Nos 1-10, the Speakers List being attached as Appendix 1 to these Minutes

·  An Update Report on Item Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 6, a copy of the report being attached as Appendix 3 to these Minutes

 

RESOLVED that, in accordance with their delegated powers, the applications be determined as set out in the Decisions List attached as Appendix 4 to these Minutes

 

Item 1 Parcel 0074 Flatts Lane, Farmborough – Construction of a solar park to include associated equipment and works (Resubmission of 13/02527/FUL) – The Case Officer reported on this application and his recommendation to grant permission with conditions. The Update Report made some corrections to the Main Report and amended the Recommendation to (A) authorise the Group Manager – Development Management to finalise a Unilateral Undertaking from the applicant to secure the provision of a permissive footpath along the north eastern and south eastern boundaries of the site and the maintenance of permissive public access to the informal open space to the north west corner of the application site to be publicly accessible for the lifetime of the development; (B) that the application be referred to the Secretary of State to give him the opportunity to consider whether to exercise his call-in powers in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2009; and (C) subject to the Secretary of State not calling-in the application, authorise the Group Manager – Development Management to permit the application subject to the conditions listed in the Main Report and to an additional condition.

 

The public speakers made their statements against and in favour of the proposal which was followed by a statement by the Ward Councillor Sally Davis who spoke against the application.

 

Councillor Les Kew opened the debate. He stated that there had been a lot of opposition to the scheme. He was opposed to the loss of the best and most versatile agricultural land in the Green Belt and that industrial land was better suited to this type of development. The planning impact on local residents needed to be taken into account and there were no social or economic benefits from the scheme. The scheme would introduce a substantial amount of man-made infrastructure and harm rural character. As this is inappropriate development in the Green Belt, the impact on the countryside and the loss of openness to the Green Belt was a major factor for consideration. Therefore, on this basis, he moved that the application be refused which was seconded by Councillor Jeremy Sparks.

 

Members debated the motion. Councillor Vic Pritchard considered that the scheme if allowed would look like a public footpath round an industrial site and it would be an abuse of this land which was in an elevated position. He recognised that the Council were underperforming as regards its green energy targets but he could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

Quarterly Performance - January to March 2014 pdf icon PDF 213 KB

To note the report

Minutes:

The Group Manager – Development Management reported on the Quarterly Performance Report which provided Members with performance information across a range of activities within the Development Management function.

 

Members commented on the report. It was requested that the graph in Table 1 of the report be in colour in future. This was a new format where colour differentiation was required for comparing applications determined within target time.

 

The Chair complimented the Officers on their performance and the Committee noted the report.

12.

New Planning Appeals Lodged, Decisions Received and Dates of Forthcoming Hearings/Inquiries pdf icon PDF 40 KB

To note the report

Minutes:

After a brief discussion, the report was noted