Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from:

·       Councillor Bill Parks, who was substituted by Councillor Mike Sankey

·       Councillor David Vigar, who was substituted by Councillor Gordon King

·       Councillor Pip Ridout

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2024.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 13 March 2024 were considered. In response to a query with regard to the appeal decision relating to application PL/2023/00952, it was clarified that as there were no planning applications to be determined during the meeting, the decision would be included within the next appeals report submitted to the Committee.

After which, it was:

Resolved:

The Committee approved and signed the minutes of the previous meeting held on 13 March 2024 as a true and correct record.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

There were no specific Chairman’s announcements.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

Members of the public who wish to speak either in favour or against an application or any other item on this agenda are asked to register no later than 10 minutes before the start of the meeting. If it is on the day of the meeting registration should be done in person.

The rules on public participation in respect of planning applications are linked to in the Council’s Planning Code of Good Practice. The Chairman will allow up to 3 speakers in favour and up to 3 speakers against an application, and up to 3 speakers on any other item on this agenda. Each speaker will be given up to 3 minutes and invited to speak immediately prior to the item being considered.

Members of the public will have had the opportunity to make representations on the planning applications and to contact and lobby their local member and any other members of the planning committee prior to the meeting. Lobbying once the debate has started at the meeting is not permitted, including the circulation of new information, written or photographic which have not been verified by planning officers.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution which excludes, in particular, questions on non-determined planning applications.

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on Wednesday 3 April 2024 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response, questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on Friday 5 April 2024. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

The Chairman explained the rules of public participation and the procedure to be followed at the meeting.

There were no questions or statements submitted by Councillors or members of the public.

To:

Consider the Advisory Report, dated 9 February 2024, submitted by Mr William Webster of 3 Paper Buildings, appointed by Wiltshire Council as the Commons Registration Authority (CRA), to act as an independent Inspector to:

·       Preside over a non-statutory public inquiry, held on 21-22 November 2023 at St Johns Parish Centre, Studley Green, Trowbridge, to consider an application made under Sections 15(1) and (2) of the Commons Act 2006, to register land at Southwick Court Fields, in the parishes of Southwick and North Bradley, as a Town or Village Green (TVG), and

·       Produce an advisory report to include a recommendation to the CRA to assist in its determination of the application.

Public Participation

There were no named public speakers.

The Senior Definitive Map Officer, Janice Green, presented a report considering the Advisory Report, dated 9 February 2024, submitted by Mr William Webster of 3 Paper Buildings, appointed by Wiltshire Council as the Commons Registration Authority (CRA), to act as an independent Inspector to:

·       Preside over a non-statutory public inquiry, held on 21-22 November 2023 at St Johns Parish Centre, Studley Green, Trowbridge, to consider an application made under Sections 15(1) and (2) of the Commons Act 2006, to register land at Southwick Court Fields, in the parishes of Southwick and North Bradley, as a Town or Village Green (TVG), and

·       Produce an Advisory Report to include a recommendation to the CRA to assist in its determination of the application.

The officer explained the background to the application including planning trigger events which extinguish the right to apply to register land as a TVG; the legislation which governs applications; the identification of Grove Ward, Trowbridge, as the locality for the application; and the presence of public rights of way and other tracks over the land. The officer set out the Inspector’s recommendation that the application to register land as a TVG at Southwick Court Fields, in the parishes of Southwick and North Bradley, should be rejected on the ground that all the criteria for registration laid down in Section 15(2) of the Commons Act 2006 had not been satisfied, and the evidential reasons for this recommendation, as set out in the Inspector’s Advisory Report dated 9 February 2024.

Members of the Committee then had the opportunity to ask technical questions. There being none, and there being no named public speakers, Councillor David Vigar, as the Local Unitary Member for Trowbridge Grove, then spoke as to the Inspector’s recommendation and proposed decision. Cllr Vigar highlighted the timing of the application and the trigger events being critical, and where the trigger events in the form of an outline planning application and the adopted Wiltshire Housing Sites Allocation Plan (WHSAP) had occurred after the original application to register the land as a TVG, which the Inspector recommended should have been treated as duly made on the date the application was lodged on 13 January 2020. Cllr Vigar also noted that the reason for the red hatching on the application plan (land excluded from the application) was not obvious from the report, therefore he felt that the Committee had not been presented with an argument for a valid trigger event leading to the possibility of an error of fact or law where the 2017 Draft WHSAP could be the operative trigger event.

A debate followed where Members acknowledged the concerns raised by Cllr Vigar and sought clarification from the Legal Officers as to whether the validity of the trigger events would have impacted on the Inspector’s findings.

During the debate, a motion to defer the application in order to seek Counsel’s Opinion on the trigger event points raised by Cllr Vigar was moved by Councillor Trevor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

Any other items of business which, in the opinion of the Chairman, should be taken as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.