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 Sue Craig – substitute Cllr Ryan Wills

Cllr Lucy Hodge – substitute Cllr Rob Appleyard

Cllr Hal MacFie

Cllr Matt McCabe – substitute Cllr Paul Crossley

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.

Cllr Duncan Hounsell declared a non-pecuniary interest in application no. 19/01488/FUL, 4 Uplands Road, Saltford.  Cllr Hounsell was a member of Saltford Parish Council who had been consulted on this application; however, he had taken no part in the consideration of this matter at Parish Council level.

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.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2019 were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

The Committee considered:

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

·  Oral statements by members of the public and representatives.  A copy of the speakers’ list is attached as Appendix 1 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 2 to these minutes.

Item No. 1

Application No. 19/01873/FUL

Site Location: St Joseph’s Church, Sladebrook Road, Southdown, Bath – Erection of 9 dwellings, alterations to vehicular access, associated parking and landscaping, following demolition of redundant church building

The Case Officer reported on the application and her recommendation to permit. 

A local resident spoke against the application.

The Agent spoke in favour of the application.

Cllr Crossley referred to a pending single Cabinet Member decision (E3150 – Supporting an Exemplar Housing Development).  He queried whether when making the decision today a comment could be made regarding this decision as it would address matters such as shared ownership and restriction against the use of properties for HMO (Houses in Multiple Occupation) purposes.

The Deputy Head of Planning stated that any decision made at this meeting could not take into account a Cabinet single member decision that had not yet been made.  The Committee must consider the information before it at this meeting and E3150 was not a material consideration in this case.

In response to a question the Case Officer and Highways Officer explained that the proposal to move the bus stop was to avoid potential conflict with people entering and exiting the site.  Cllrs Crossley and Jackson felt that it was not necessary to move the bus stop from its current location.

Cllr Jackson pointed out that the Council had a policy in place for HMO properties and queried what proportion of properties in this area were HMOs.

The Deputy Head of Planning explained that the Committee must consider the application before it on its own merits.  The application was not for HMO properties and if there were subsequently an application to change one of the properties to an HMO then this would have to be considered as a change of use under the existing policy.

Cllr Crossley stated that this was a Council application.  He noted that there was an existing planning application to provide housing on this site and that it should, therefore, be approved.  He had concerns that in the future there could be a change of use to HMO properties.  He pointed out that the current policy only tested against registered HMOs in the area and stated that this should take into account all HMOs including those that were unregistered.  He felt that the pending Cabinet member decision E3150 should be taken into account when making a decision on this application.  This would ensure that there would be some shared ownership properties within the scheme, would push for the environmental standards set out in the pending decision and would place a restriction on the use of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

The Committee is asked to note the quarterly performance report from April to June 2019.

The Committee considered the quarterly performance report from April to June 2019.  Members congratulated the arboriculturalists on their excellent performance.

RESOLVED: To NOTE the report.

The Committee is asked to note the report.

The Committee considered the appeals report.

RESOLVED to NOTEthe report.