Agenda and minutes

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

The Democratic Services Officer read out the procedure.

RESOLVED that a Vice-Chair was not required on this occasion.

Apologies were received from Councillor Douglas Nicol.

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 an 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.

There were none.

There was none.

The Democratic Services Officer informed the meeting that there were various people wishing to make statements on planning applications in Report 10 and that they would be able to do so when reaching their respective items in that Report.

There were none.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 20^th November 2013

These were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Development Control Committee is asked to agree that all the Council’s S106 Deeds with affordable housing requirements shall include, as standard practice, an appropriate MIP clause.

The Team Manager (Enabling & Development) presented the report. She explained that the Council already allowed its housing partners to use Mortgagee in Possession Clauses, so that repossessed affordable housing land of a housing association could be resold on the open market unfettered by restrictions on valuation or occupancy. The recommendation to the Committee was that such clauses should, as standard practice, be included in all the Council’s Section 106 Deeds, to ensure the continued availability of finance for affording housing development.

It was moved by Councillor Roberts and seconded by Councillor Kew and RESOLVED that all the Council’s S106 Deeds shall include, as standard practice, an appropriated Mortgagee in Possession (MIP) clause. The MIP clause will fulfil the requirements of lenders of funding for affordable housing development and will be negotiated with the developer as part of wider S106 discussions.

The Committee considered

• A report by the Development Manager on various applications for planning permission
• Oral statements by members of the public etc on Item Nos 1-3, the Speakers List being attached as Appendix 1 to these Minutes
• An Update Report by the Development Manager on Item Nos 2 and 4, which is attached as Appendix 2 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 3 to these Minutes.

Item 1: Proposed Development Site, King George’s Road, Twerton, Bath – Erection of 11 houses and 10 flats following the demolition of half an existing apartment building

The Case Officer gave a presentation on the proposal and his recommendation to delegate to permit it

The public speakers made their statements against and in favour of the proposal.

Councillors Sharon Ball and June Player made statements against the proposal.

Councillor Veal said that having considered all the information presented to the Committee he was at present unable to come to a decision, and moved that there should be a site visit to clarify a number of issues. This was seconded by Councillor Hardman.

Other Members spoke in favour of a site visit and referred to aspects of the application which they believed needed clarification, including access to the site, traffic flows, the proximity of the site to the railway, and its proximity to the allotments and existing residences.

The motion for a site visit was put to the vote and passed unanimously.

Item 2: 63 Warminster Road, Bathampton, BA2 6RU – Erection of replacement dwelling following demolition of existing dwelling (Revised proposal)

The Case Officer gave a presentation on the proposal and his recommendation to permit.

The public speaker made her statement in favour of the proposal.

Councillor Veal said that he was delighted to see a much-improved application return to the Committee and congratulated the applicants on their constructive negotiations with officers. He moved to permit the application.

Councillor Organ said that it was very unusual for the Committee to refuse an application on design grounds alone. He thought the original design had been very messy and bitty, but the current design was a vast improvement. He had no reservations about, it and seconded the motion to permit.

Other Members also complimented the new design.

The motion to permit was put to the vote and carried unanimously.

Item 3: 1 Pitway Close, Farrington Gurney, Bristol BS39 6TE – Erection of detached dormer style bungalow (resubmission)

The Case Officer gave a presentation on the proposal and her recommendation to refuse.

The public speaker made a statement in favour of the proposal.

Councillor Kew said that he could see no reason why this site should not be developed. Under the National Planning Policy Framework housing applications had to be considered in the context of the presumption in favour of sustainable development. The Parish Council fully supported the proposal and the site was within the housing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 108.

Councillor Organ noted that the Council had won 8 out of 9 appeals made and congratulated officers on this result.

Councillor Veal noted that the appeal on Stowey Quarry had been dismissed. He thought this outcome justified the lengthy discussions the Committee had had about it and vindicated the democratic process.

Councillor Kew noted that the appeal on the use of chalets for residential use at West End, Breach Hill Lane, Chew Stoke had been dismissed and asked whether enforcement action would be taken to demolish the two chalets. The Team Leader: Development and Management said that he would report back about this.