Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from:

Cllr Jonathon Seed who was substituted by Cllr David Halik

 Cllr Darren Henry.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 21 August 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 August 2019 were presented.

Resolved:

To approve as a true and correct record and sign the minutes.

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 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 2.50pm 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 18 September 2019 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on20 September 2019. 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 Committee noted the rules on public participation.

To receive details of completed and pending appeals and other updates as appropriate.

The Committee noted the contents of the appeals update.

To consider and determine the following planning applications.

The Committee considered the following applications:

Change of use from agricultural (equestrian) to mixed use - equestrian and dog day care facility for maximum 20 dogs.

Public Participation

Margaret Christison spoke in objection to the application

Amanda Bishop spoke in objection to the application

Brian Oliver spoke in objection to the application

George Mumford, Westwood Parish Council, spoke in objection to the application

Verity Giles-Franklin, Senior Planning Officer, introduced the report which was recommended for approval. The planning application was for a Change of use from agricultural equestrian to mixed use - equestrian and dog day care facility for maximum 20 dogs.

Key issues included; Principle of the change of use, impact on the Green Belt, impact on neighbouring amenity and highways issues.

Additional representations had been received which raised issues of the quality, and accuracy of the acoustic report.

The officer noted that the noise assessment report had been revised with the correct address and explained that the two closest neighbours to the application site, had been used for the noise receptors, which concluded that the noise levels were of an acceptable level.

Members of the Committee had the opportunity to ask technical questions of the officer. Details were sought on: Whether part of the hay barn was already used as an office;  Whether the RSPCA were consultees and whether the noise assessment worst case scenario was robust enough.

The officers response noted that: in 2001 the site had permission for the hay barn, tack room, stables and amenity room for ancillary use; the RSPCA were not statutory consultees for the council but for the applicant to consult with and that expert guidelines and methodology were followed to conduct the noise assessment including the worst case scenario and were therefore considered as robust measures.

Members of the public, as detailed above, had the opportunity to speak on the application. 

The local member Cllr Kidney spoke in objection to the application noting the key issues as; noise, concerns about the robustness of the noise assessment, that the community would be at risk of nuisance, concerns on whether the conditions could be enforced and that there was a lack of guidance and policy on the issue.

Officers noted that the noise assessment was a professional acoustic report based on national policy and carried out by professionals, with no expert advice received against the assessment.

A motion was moved by Cllr Sarah Gibson to approve the application for a temporary period of two years with added conditions that no more than five dogs could exercise at one time and that before approval was given, more information was required on the acoustic mitigation being implemented within the accommodation. The motion was seconded by Cllr Pip Ridout.

Following a short debate and advice from officers the motion was amended by removing the condition that no more than five dogs could exercise at one time. The was agreed by Cllr Sarah Gibson and the Seconder Cllr Pip Ridout.

At the end of the debate it was;

RESOLVED

To unanimously approve planning permission subject to the following conditions:

1. The dog day care use hereby permitted shall be discontinued no later than  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

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.