Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

An apology for absence was received from Cllr Stewart Dobson, who was substituted by Cllr Jerry Wickham.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2014.

Resolved:

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 10 December 2014.

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

Cllr Terry Chivers declared a non-pecuniary interest in Minute No. 6 below as he was a member of Melksham Without Parish Council.  He stated that he would speak and vote on the application with an open mind.

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 in person no later than 10.20am on the day of the meeting.

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. The rules on public participation in respect of planning applications are detailed in the Council’s Planning Code of Good Practice.

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 (acting on behalf of the Corporate Director) no later than 5pm on Wednesday 14 January 2015. 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.

There were no questions received from members of the Council.

Members of the public addressed the Committee as set out in Minute No. 6 below.

A report by the Case Officer is attached.

The following person spoke against the proposal:

Mr Martin Haffendon, a local resident

The following people spoke in support of the proposal:

Mr Mike Robinson, the agent

Cllr John Glover, representing Melksham Without Parish Council

The Committee received a presentation by the Area Development Manager and the Case Officer which set out the main issues in respect of the application.  The report was introduced which recommended that planning permission be refused.

Members of the Committee then had the opportunity to ask technical questions after which the Committee received statements from members of the public as detailed above, expressing their views regarding the planning application.

Members then heard the views of Cllr Roy While, the local Member, who while generally supporting the application, recognised the issues it raised with the Core Strategy. He recognised that there were other outstanding applications for housing development within the parish of Melksham Without.

During discussion Members expressed concern about the site being located outside the limits of development in the Melksham area as set out in the Wiltshire Core Strategy as adopted by Council the previous day.  

Resolved:

To refuse planning permission for the following reasons:

1. The site is located outside of the limits of development defined for Melksham in Core Policy 2 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy. It lies outside of the existing built area of the ‘small village’ that Berryfield is defined as in Core Policies 2 and 15 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy (where development is limited to infill only). The proposal would therefore conflict with Core Policy 2 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy.

2. The site is located in an area of open countryside that plays an important role in the landscape of physically and visually separating the settlements of Melksham and Berryfield. The siting and construction of the proposed development would fail to respect this important function resulting in a detrimental and unacceptable change in landscape character urbanising the area between the settlements of Melksham and Berryfield and resulting in their physical and visual coalescence. The proposal would therefore conflict with policies CP1, CP15 and CP51 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy.

3. The proposal conflicts with the Delivery Strategy set out in Policy CP2 of the Wiltshire Core strategy, which seeks to properly plan for sustainable development of housing sites in Wiltshire to deliver the identified needs in the Community Areas through a Site Allocations DPD and/or a Neighbourhood Plan, a strategy supported by both the Wiltshire Core Strategy Inspector, and the Secretary of State in his appeal decision at Park Lane, Malmesbury. The site has not been brought forward through this process and the adverse impacts identified in reasons 1 and 2 above reinforce the need for the delivery strategy required by policy CP 2 as the properly planned method of establishing the most sustainable sites for meeting the housing needs of Melksham.

To note that the next meeting is scheduled to be held on Wednesday 11 February 2015 at County Hall, Trowbridge, starting at 10.30am.

Resolved:

To note that the next meeting was due to be held on Wednesday 11 February 2015 at County Hall, Trowbridge, starting at 10.30am.