Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will ask the Committee Administrator to draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure.

The Democratic Services Officer read out the emergency evacuation procedure.

A Vice Chairman was not required on this occasion.

Apologies for absence were received from:

Cllr Caroline Roberts – substitute Cllr Will Sandry

Cllr David Veale – substitute Cllr Patrick Anketell-Jones

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 no declarations of interest.

There was no urgent business.

The Democratic Services Officer informed the meeting that there were a number of people wishing to make statements on planning applications and that they would be able to do so when these items were discussed.

There were no items from Councillors or Co-Opted Members.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2019 were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

The Committee considered:

·  A report by the Head of Planning on various planning applications.

·  An update report by the Head of Planning on items 1 and 3 attached as Appendix 1 to these minutes.

·  Oral statements by members of the public and representatives.  A copy of the speakers’ list is attached as Appendix 2 to these minutes.

RESOLVED that in accordance with the delegated powers, the applications be determined as set out in the decisions list attached as Appendix 3 to these minutes.

Item No.1

Application No.18/03797/FUL

Site Location: Chivers House, Windsor Bridge Road, Twerton, Bath, BA2 3DT – Demolition of existing building and redevelopment of the site to provide 95 dwellings across two separate buildings.  External works including hard and soft landscaping and site clearance works with land set aside for the future facilitation of a Sustainable Transport Route.  Proposed vehicular access to Windsor Bridge Road and provision of 24 vehicular parking spaces and cycle parking

The Case Officer reported on the application and his recommendation for refusal.  He gave the following updates to his report:

·  There are 24 car parking spaces rather than the 26 specified in the report.

·  The permission for other uses which is referred to under the relevant planning history section of the report lapsed in January 2019.

·  The site is not located in a Conservation Area but is adjacent to one.  Therefore the duty to pay special attention to the preservation of enhancement of the character or appearance of the surrounding conservation area referred to on page 33 of the report does not apply in this case.

A representative from the Bath Preservation Trust spoke against the application.

The Agent, Architect and a representative from the Two Tunnels Group spoke in favour of the application.

The Case Officer then responded to questions as follows:

·  Although the planning policies state that loss of employment space should be prevented policies also support the use of this type of space for housing.  This required a balance to be struck and refusal on the grounds of loss of an industrial site would not be justified in this instance.

·  The provision of 24 parking spaces was well below policy requirements as 63 spaces would be needed to meet the specified parking standard.  There was no indication as to how the 24 spaces would be allocated.

·  The policy specified that parking requirements were:

o   1 bedroom properties - 1 parking space

o   2-3 bedroom properties – 2 parking spaces

o   4 bedroom or more properties - 3 spaces

o   0.2 of a parking space for visitors.

·  The parking space for electric vehicles was included within the overall number of 24.

·  There were two cycle parking areas contained within the plans.

·  The sustainable transport route would be for pedestrians and cyclists.

·  The applicant had now offered to provide 17 affordable dwellings as shared ownership units, however, the policy required 30% of the properties to be affordable housing.  The application offered no properties for social rent.

·  The height of the development  ...  view the full minutes text for item 118.

The Committee is asked to confirm the Tree Preservation Order with one minor modification relating to map No. 4 of 6.

The Committee considered a report regarding a Tree Preservation Order (No.317) at the University of Bath, Claverton Down.

The Case Officer reported on the Order and explained that a request had been received to provide an up to date assessment of the current cohort of trees as the original order had been made in 1995.  The aim was to rationalise the current area into specific individual trees, groups of trees and woodlands.

One comment had been received from the Bath Cats and Dogs Home seeking clarification as to which trees were on land owned by the Home and which were on land belonging to the University.  Officers had now met with representatives from the Cats and Dogs Home and recommended that the plan be modified as detailed in the report.

In response to a question from Cllr Sandry the Case Officer confirmed that there was no reason to believe that the tree in the area to be removed from the Order was under threat.

Cllr Kew moved the officer recommendation set out in the report and this was seconded by Cllr Crossley.

The motion was put to the vote and it was RESOLVED unanimously to CONFIRM the Tree Preservation Order with one minor modification to the Tree Preservation Order relating to map No. 4 of 6 as set out in the report.

The Committee is asked to note the report.

The Committee considered the appeals report.

RESOLVED:  To notethe report.