Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Cllr Stewart Dobson who was substituted by Cllr Christopher Williams

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2016

Resolved:

To sign the minutes of the Eastern Area Planning Committee as an accurate record of the meeting held on 17 November 2017

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

Cllr Richard Gamble, declared a non-pecuniary interest as portfolio holder for education, and stated that he would abstain from voting on the application.

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

There were no 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 by phone, email or in person no later than 5.50pm on the day of the meeting.

The rules on public participation in respect of planning applications are detailed 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 28^th December 2017 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 30^th December 2017. 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 procedure for public participation

To receive details of the completed and pending appeals.

There were no planning appeals or updates

Public participation

Paul Grace, Marlborough College, spoke in objection to the application

Celia Hicks, Preshute primary school, spoke in objection to the application

Paul Rogers, resident, spoke in support of the application

Peter May, resident, spoke in support of the application

Ian Mellor, the applicant, spoke in support of the application

The chairman reminded members of the public that the purpose of the meeting was to determine whether to request a non-statutory independent inquiry, and not to determine the outcome of the application itself.

Sarah Marshall, senior solicitor, explained that the Committee in considering this matter and making a decision would be operating in their Regulatory function and therefore as regulatory committee of the commons registration authority, and not as a planning committee or a land owner.

The rights of way officer, Sally Madgwick, introduced the application which was for the registration of a village green. She explained that as the land in question was owned by Wiltshire Council, case law suggested that it should be referred to an independent inspector who would then advise the committee.

In response to a question about the legal implications of determining the application, the officer explained that the decision would have to be based only on the evidence before the committee and not on the potential other uses for the land. It was explained that the committee could make any decision that it deemed fit but that the officers report presented at this meeting did not provide sufficient and appropriate detailed evidence and that should the members be minded to determine the application they would be advised to do this at a later meeting upon considering the evidence and receiving more information on the application.

Members of the public were then invited to speak as detailed above.

Cllr Mark Connolly, seconded by Cllr Nick Fogg, moved to appoint an independent Inspector to hold a non-statutory public inquiry, as recommended in the report.

In the debate that followed, issues covered included: that members were very appreciative of so many members of the public attending the meeting; that having heard the legal aspects of the application it would not be sensible to determine the application without first holding an inquiry; that it was likely that choosing the first option in the report would lead to the second option being advocated; that future plans for the site were irrelevant to the decision in hand; and that it was important to appoint someone who was independent and transparent.

Following the debate, it was

Resolved:

To appoint an independent Inspector to hold a non-statutory public inquiry and provide an advisory report for the Eastern Area Planning Committee on the application to register land as a town or village green in Barton Park/College Fields, Marlborough.

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