Agenda item

Construction of three dwellings with associated access, parking and landscaping

Public Participation

Mr Matt Holmes (Agent) spoke in support of the application

Mr Keith Hartland spoke in support of the application

Cllr Kirsty Exton, (Chairman) of Idmiston Parish Council spoke in objection to the application.

The Senior Planning Officer, Becky Jones, introduced a report which recommended that the application forDemolition of existing dwelling and annex and construction of 4 dwellings (Resubmission of PL/2023/08067) be approved, subject to conditions.

The Officer summarised late correspondence, which related to a response from the Tree Officer, stating no objection subject to conditions and a letter from a third party who had already submitted an objection, reiterating points around drainage and the demolition of former function room at the hotel, which had been carried out under permitted development rights.

Key details were stated in the report to include the principle of development, Landscape/visual impacts, Residential amenity, Highways, Archaeology and Ecology/River Avon SAC catchment.

Within the presentation slides the extent of existing settlement boundary, proposed street scene and proposed site plan were explained. 

Members of the Committee then had the opportunity to ask technical questions of the officer. Details were sought on the width of the proposed driveways and the impact of the Council not being able to demonstrate a 5 year Housing Land Supply (HLS).

The Officer clarified that Highways had looked at the drawings in relation to the standard requirements and had no objection to the driveway measurements.

In relation to the impact of the shortfall of a 5 year HLS, significant weight should be given to the consideration of development when there were good reasons to do so. A tilted balance would tip in favour of allowing dev in housing settlement boundaries.

Clarification was sought on the inclusion of swept paths in the proposal and whether this would be enforceable. The Officer confirmed that Highways had not objected on the basis that the development was built as per the submitted plans, which included the swept paths, so if the applicant deviated from this during construction, then there would be a breach which could be managed by enforcement.

Members of the public then had the opportunity to present their views to the committee as detailed above. The Idmiston Parish Council representative spoke in objection, noting concerns relating to increased vehicle movements, access to neighbouring driveways, parking of site vehicles adding to restrictions, tree removal, lack of infrastructure and the size of the dwellings.

Councillor Rich Rogers who had called the application in to Committee on the grounds of scale of development, relationship to adjoining properties and environmental/highway impact, moved the motion of Refusal, against Officer recommendation, noting the reasons as CP1, CP57, CP45 and policy 9 of the Idmiston Neighbourhood Plan (INP).

This was seconded by Councillor Hocking.

Cllr Rich Rogers noted there were 3 similar scale applications for consideration at the meeting which were all within close proximity of each other.

He went on to state that Porton had seen significant development over recent years, making reference to NP Policy 19 as Porton had met and exceeded the required housing target set out in the plan.

Main concerns noted, included highways safety, the scale of the development, dwellings sizes were too large and did not meet the settlement needs in terms of housing size and type and that no business need had been identified.

A debate followed where issues discussed included the lack of a housing land supply and what bearing that had on the consideration of planning applications.

Members discussed the suitability of the site for development and the scale of the proposals with suggestions that the plot would be better suited to two dwellings as opposed to the three proposed.

The Committee asked for clarification around the ownership of the trees to be removed, where it was confirmed that the trees to be removed would need to be in the ownership of the applicant and if any trees were on or over the boundary, then the applicant would not have permission to remove them, but that would be a matter for the applicant and the neighbour to resolve.

The Committee noted local concern regarding limited space for parked vehicles around the site and asked whether a condition was applied that would restrict the site vehicles from parking along the roadside. It was clarified that a Construction Management Plan could be secured by condition which would set out the arrangements and timings for deliveries and access for construction vehicles, to be agreed with the highways team.

The Committee also noted the small size of the rear gardens for the size of the dwellings proposed.

At the close of debate the Committee voted on the motion of Refusal, against Officer’s recommendation for the reasons as stated.

It was,

Resolved

That planning permission for PL/2024/03203 be refused for the following reasons:

The development site forms a steeply sloping area of land to the rear of an existing hotel, fronting onto Winterslow Road in the large village of Porton. The housing provision target envisaged by the made Idmiston Neighbourhood Plan 2015-2026 (NP) has been met.  The provision of 2 four bed dwellings and one 3 bed dwelling is not considered to meet the identified local housing needs for Idmiston as set out in the Neighbourhood Plan, contrary to the aims of Core Policy 1 and Core Policy 45 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy 2015 (WCS). 

The family sized dwellings would have constricted, terraced amenity spaces and the proposal is considered to represent overdevelopment of this constrained site, contrary to the existing spacious layout of residential development in the area. The proposed layout for parking and the shared turning areas for Plots 1 and 2 is restricted and the frontage space available for Plot 3 is likely to require additional shunt manoeuvres including reversing in and out of the access, to the detriment of existing highway safety arrangements in Winterslow Road. The layout of the proposal would be contrary to Core Policy 57 of the WCS and Idmiston Neighbourhood Plan Policy 9 and Policy 17.